KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department is working to decrease the number of domestic-violence related homicides.

At the end of fall, officers will use a lethality assessment when they respond to domestic violence calls.

“Depending on the answers that are given from those questions, it may trigger a call to safe home, Sgt. Greg Vickers with Johnson County Sheriff’s Office said.

The Lethality Assessment is what some local law enforcement agencies are using to help a domestic violence victim.

“Now if you answer yes to any of the top 3 questions, that’s an automatic trigger to safe home,” Sgt. Vickers said.

Vickers said he’s been using this assessment since he joined the team in 2011.

Now Kansas City, Kansas Police are going to use it too by the end of the year.

Even though the questions may differ in each police department the objective is the same.

“It’s an extremely dangerous situation for a victim to be in and our goal as a police department, and it should be for the community as well, is to offer these victims help,” Major Brittanie Pruitt with KCKPD said. “Give them assistance and show them look there is a way out. There are other resources out there to help you get out of that situation.

Pruitt said roughly 38% of homicides in KCK this year were a result of domestic violence.

The department received a grant from the federal office of Violence Against Women to implement the program.

It’s using the funds to hire a 24-hour coordinator.

“We’re finalizing our report and then we’re actually sitting down with officers during our annual in-service training, and this will be given to them and show them what the questions look like, what triggers a response,” Pruitt said.

KCK Police said it knows people aren’t always calling 911 for help. People can reach the department’s Victim Services team at 913-573-5616. The National Domestic Abuse Hotline is 1-800-799-7233.