Apr. 1—For Harrison police Officer Colton Stebler, responding to domestic violence is an almost daily occurrence.

"Sometimes it's multiple calls a day," said Stebler, who has spent six years in law enforcement.

The Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center sponsored a free training seminar on domestic violence for area law enforcement officials Friday in Harrison.

The Lethality Assessment Program, created in 2012, teaches law enforcement officers how to most effectively handle and screen victims of domestic violence. Friday's program was the first in-person session since the pandemic.

To date, the program includes 278 participating law enforcement agencies throughout 45 counties in the state.

"I believe that officers can always use additional training, and, any extra training that comes up, I usually sign up for," Stebler said of his first training seminar on Lethality Assessment Protocol (LAP).

In 2021, Allegheny County led the state in the number of domestic violence-related deaths, logging 18 of Pennsylvania's 112 reported fatalities.

In the past decade, more than 1,600 deaths have occurred related to domestic-violence incidents in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Participating LAP agencies screen victims of domestic abuse in an effort to identify those individuals who may be in immediate danger of being killed by their intimate partners.

"Any victim flagged during the screening as being in immediate danger is connected with an immediate contact from a domestic violence agency in an effort to reduce any threats and to encourage entry into the services offered by the Alle-Kiski Area HOPE Center," said Michelle Gibb, its CEO and executive director.

Guest speakers Friday included Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Michael Sullivan, attorney Allison Kowalewski, Judge Carolyn Bengel of Brackenridge and Lindsay Taiani, the HOPE Center's director of community services.

"We are really trying to be community partners and collaborators to assist the people that the HOPE Center works with, which are victims of domestic violence," Taiani said.

Taiani said ongoing training for law enforcement is another added tool for understanding the best ways to help victims of domestic violence.

"We have many, many domestic violence cases," Taiani said. "As an officer, they're learning today about domestic violence prosecution from the District Attorney's Office: evidence collection, the importance of how police document all of the things on scene, protection-from-abuse orders, custody and the importance of all aspects of domestic violence."

In Allegheny County, about 90% of victims of domestic violence are female, Taiani said.

The Alle-Kiski Health Foundation provided the venue for the workshop at no cost.

Attendees included about 30 officers from the Fox Chapel, Monroeville, Brackenridge, Plum, Fawn Township, Sharpsburg, Harrison and Allegheny Valley Regional police departments.

Taiani said other departments are LAP participants, including Frazer, Northern Regional, Penn Hills and Tarentum.

Stebler said the weather seems to affect how many calls he responds to in regards to domestic incidents.

"Seems like there's more when the weather is warm," Stebler said.

"I'm impressed with the training. We were just issued body cameras, so that is a new type of evidence collection," he said.

Harrison police rolled out the use of officer-worn body cameras this week.

Since the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence implemented LAP more than a decade ago, more than 35,000 screenings have been conducted statewide.

As a result, more than 15,000 victims have sought services related to domestic violence from participating LAP programs.

Joyce Hanz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joyce by email at jhanz@triblive.com or via Twitter .