Cooke chairs Domestic Violence Task Force

Jasper Cooke

Director of Public Safety Jasper Cooke was recently named chair of the executive committee of the Domestic Violence Task Force of the Augusta Judicial Circuit. Mr. Cooke, formerly the law enforcement liaison for the organization, took office January 1.

Mr. Cooke says the goal of the task force is to raise community awareness and to promote community involvement in the prevention of domestic violence. One way is through the development and distribution of written guidelines on how to handle domestic violence cases to law enforcement agencies, hospitals, and prosecutors. The task force has been working on the guidelines for the last year.

“The goal is to identify the domestic violence incidents when they first occur,” he says. “We would love to stop domestic violence, but that’s impossible. But if we get better reporting and everyone involved is working with the guidelines, we will be able to prosecute the abuser the first time domestic violence occurs, not the 15th time.”

The task force, which began in 2001, has been collecting recycled cell phones to provide to domestic violence victims. They recently donated 50 Polaroid cameras to local law enforcement agencies, along with film to document cases.

Since Mr. Cooke took office, the committee has been distributing cards to area organizations that contain helpful information for victims of domestic violence. In addition to this organization, Mr. Cooke also serves as a board member of the International Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, a committee chair for the Georgia Chiefs of Police Association, the past president and currently a committee chair member of the Georgia Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, and the past president and currently an executive board member of Prevent Child Abuse Augusta. He received a master’s degree in public administration from Columbus State University, and is a 1987 alumnus of ASU.

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