New detective will work on crimes against women; Wayne position funded for one year

Tom Kane
Posted 8/21/12

A new detective will join the office of the Wayne County District Attorney beginning immediately and focus mainly on crimes against women.

Jamie Schultz, a 20-year veteran of the Pennsylvania …

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New detective will work on crimes against women; Wayne position funded for one year

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A new detective will join the office of the Wayne County District Attorney beginning immediately and focus mainly on crimes against women.

Jamie Schultz, a 20-year veteran of the Pennsylvania State Police, will focus on domestic violence and abuse by spouses. The funding is from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD).

“It’s important for anyone hired to be aware that when the funding stops the position stops,” said Brian Smith, chairman of the Wayne County Commissioners.

The “focus is to investigate crimes against women, which includes all sexual abuse,” said Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards. “This law enforcement portion of the Second Time Offender Program (STOP) grant was previously used by the Honesdale Police Department. Our new proposal to PCCD was for me to hire a detective for the law enforcement portion of the grant to work the entire county area, not just Honesdale. In conjunction with the Victims Intervention Program (VIP), our grant proposal came in second place in the state and we were awarded the grant.”

There has been a rise in violence against women in the county, particularly in the Schroeder murder case and the case in Damascus Township when a young woman was killed by her mother’s lover.

“There needs to be someone working on preventing these cases, or investigating them once they are committed,” Edwards said.

The grant will fund three functions: investigation, prosecution and support for victims, Edwards told the county commissioners. The part for victims will be the function of VIP. The prosecution portion is to be used by the district attorney’s office and the investigation portion will go to fund the detective.

The addition of Schultz comes after a year with a rise in domestic violence countywide. The seriousness of the crimes also rose in 2012, with a record number of homicides and attempted homicides.

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