- April 24, 2024
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Fiona Ebrill didn’t go into law enforcement hoping to handle domestic violence cases, in particular. But she’d always liked solving problems, even when she was a little girl entranced by lateral thinking puzzles.
“One of the big things besides helping people was solving problems, solving puzzles,” she said.
Resolving domestic violence cases that would otherwise remain open was one way to do that. So when the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office created a dedicated position for a domestic violence detective, Ebrill, a road patrol deputy at the time, applied.
With domestic violence, she said, “One of the things is that it just doesn’t discriminate; whether you feel you’re lucky to have a dollar in your pocket, or a mansion, it affects everyone. Men and women, all races. ... I’ve had one case with a male victim; I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone so scared of their perpetrator. Eventually we got audio recording of the incident, and it was just pretty disturbing.”
Last year, she handled about 200 cases, and the statistics stemming from her work (see sidebar) led the FCSO to nominate her for the 7th Judicial Circuit Victim’s Service Coalition’s Law Enforcement Officer of the Year award, which she received. Since she became a detective, the agency has seen more of its domestic violence cases prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office. It’s had more domestic violence arrests, and more domestic violence suspects arrested for violating injunctions. There have also been fewer stalking cases.
Ebrill acknowledged that her work affects how she sees the relationships around her. She finds herself keeping an eye out for controlling behavior.
There’s also one lighter aspect of her work she takes home with her: Khaleesi, her pet Chihuahua who is also a therapy dog.
The Sheriff’s Office had been considering getting therapy dogs around the time Ebrill got Khaleesi from a rescue group.
“After I rescued her, I realized she wasn’t your typical high strung Chihuahua,” Ebrill said. “She loves everybody.”
Khaleesi is quiet and friendly, and can help people calm down enough to talk. The Sheriff’s Office also has one other therapy dog, a border collie.
“Any victim interview, when the dogs come in the room, the mood changes,” Ebrill said. “Anyone in the room comes right to the dog.”
That, she said, can help victims with stress as they try to describe what happened to them.
Ebrill has now been in the position for more than a year, and at the Sheriff’s Office for five. At any given time, she might be working on more than 30 cases.
When she starts work each day, she’ll go through all the new domestic violence cases. Along with a civilian analyst, she’ll check to see if suspects have a criminal history.
Sometimes she intervenes later in the process.
“There’s been several cases where road patrol couldn’t find the person (the domestic violence suspect), or they needed to be looked over again and see what we can do in terms of charges, and then I help with getting an arrest warrant.”
She goes over cases to see if they meet certain criteria for what’s known as the “Invest Team,” for “intimate violence enhanced services.” For example, she examines felony cases, or cases where there’s been a known history of disturbances, or where there’s a risk to the life of the victim.
She writes a supplemental report that’s sent to the State Attorney’s Office along with the suspect’s arrest report. The extra detail, she said, is part of the reason prosecutors are more likely to take domestic violence cases since the program began.
“Every domestic violence case that I do follow up on will get an extra supplement which describes everything from previous history, previous disturbances, whether there was violence or not.”
Working domestic violence cases isn’t that different from working other cases, she said.
“A domestic violence rape case, it’s still treated the same as any other rape case,” she said. “It’s treated no differently from any other crime, it just has a domestic violence enhancement.”
