San Mateo County multidisciplinary team set to aid high-risk domestic violence survivors

This October was also designated as Domestic Violence Awareness Month by the board, sponsored by Corzo who is also the chair of the Domestic Violence Council. The council’s recently established Domestic Violence Task Force has looked to coordinate efforts across agencies and implement best practices from other counties. Contra Costa County has a similar high-risk multidisciplinary team.

“We have been working day after day to really address the urgency it deserves in our community,” Corzo said of the council. 

In 2024, all five homicides in the city of San Mateo were domestic violence incidents, according to a press release.

Data collected by the Community Overcoming Relationship Abuse organization — which services the county — showed last year there were 8,275 requests for service through CORA’s 24-hour crisis hotline and law enforcement referrals. Ninety-four adults and children were provided emergency shelter and 76 households were provided long-term rental assistance, Corzo said. 

Though the county has services dedicated to support those affected by intimate partner abuse, as well as nonprofits such as CORA, oftentimes high-risk cases demand a level of immediacy that can be challenging to coordinate across different agencies and organizations, Corzo said. 

“What we know is this county already has excellent supports available to survivors of domestic violence,” Elisa Kuhl, Victim Services manager in the District Attorney’s Office, said. “We already have the partnership in place. But what the high-risk team will do for us is to allow us to enhance and expedite service identification and delivery.”

Corzo said the multiple areas of focus represented on the team will help address the various areas of concern that may arise from these harmful situations.

“Domestic violence puts any person at risk, but there are particular circumstances that make a survivor at even higher risk of slipping through the cracks, such as high lethality risk, language access, immigration status, substance abuse, access to affordable housing, and child care responsibilities,” Corzo said at the meeting. 

As a co-sponsor of the resolution to create the multidisciplinary team, Supervisor Dave Pine said it will also work alongside his own efforts in gun violence prevention. 

“Sadly, many high risk DV cases also involve firearms,” Pine said in a press release. “It is my hope that the [team] will allow for early identification of perpetrators who also have access to firearms and prevent some volatile and violent situations.”

Urgent and coordinated interventions will be a priority of the team’s efforts, and will gather data to address response outcomes and service gaps, according to a staff report. 

“Research has shown that intimate partner domestic violence homicides are often predictable,” Kuhl, who also serves on the Domestic Violence Council, said. “And if they’re predictable, they’re preventable.”