OP-ED: For 10 years, a hotline has given victims hope

originally ran in the Austin American-Statesman on February 23, 2006

One-and-a-half million phone calls. That is how many abused and battered women have called a nationwide hot line, located here in Austin, that took its first call 10 years ago this week.

I will visit the hot line this morning to celebrate its 10th anniversary and thank the scores of volunteers and technology companies that are now donating millions of dollars in equipment to modernize the facility.

In 33 years in the U.S. Senate, nothing has given me more satisfaction than playing a part in the hot line's establishment. Called the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-SAFE), it takes calls 24 hours a day, 365 days a year from women in every state, many young, many desperate because an ex-husband or boyfriend is smacking them in the face, beating them until they bleed or threatening to kill them.

For more than 60 percent of the callers it is their very first attempt to deal with the abuse -- they had not told a friend, a relative or the police. Last year, almost 25,000 women from Texas called in.

We set up the hot line as part of a comprehensive Violence Against Women Act that I wrote in 1994. I have no doubt it has made our streets and homes safer.

Since it passed, domestic violence is down 50 percent nationwide; incidents of rape are down 60 percent; and the number of women killed by an abusive husband or boyfriend is down 20 percent. Now, more rape victims are stepping forward to report the crime, because we also have changed attitudes in this country that when a woman says no she means no.

But those in Austin who take the heart-wrenching calls know all too well that ugly domestic violence is still around. Each day in America, three women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends. In my view, there are still women who are in more jeopardy in their homes with their husbands -- the men they are in love with -- than any place else.

Over the years, as the number of calls soared, the hot line equipment wasn't able to handle them all. In 2003, more than 26,000 victims got a busy signal, some unable to get help even as they were being chased by their spouses.

So over a year ago, I started the public/private partnership, the Connections Campaign. I turned to America's leading technology and telecommunications companies, asking them to transform the hot line into a 21st century call center -- something they would want in their own businesses.

Once they visited the hot line, they couldn't wait to help. They understood that their female employees who come to work in sunglasses and long sleeves are the same ones calling the hot line.

More than 15 companies contributed their time, expertise, equipment and resources, including IBM, Dell, Verizon Wireless, Bell South, Microsoft and ESRI. A local company, Catapult Systems, took the lead to integrate the contributed equipment.

The facility is now as sophisticated as the back office in any of the world's leading banks. There are 70 new desktop computers; paper phone books and atlases have been replaced by mapping software so they can quickly connect the caller to the closest shelters or police stations.

When a woman is calling from a strip mall with two children, fearing for her life as her abuser searches for her in every store, the hot line will immediately contact the shelter and police to rescue her. Gone are the busy signals. Gone are the days when it was easier to find a shelter for a lost dog than for a desperate woman who needed to pack her bags and find a place to stay.

I hope to thank the advocates who work there not just for saving women's lives, but for saving the children who witness the tragedies. These advocates come to work at all hours of the day and night. A few have been there all 10 years. We owe them all our gratitude for doing a phenomenal job, and giving many women what they never had before -- hope.

As my mother would say, they are truly doing God's work.