Audit Report on the Effectiveness of the New York City Domestic Violence Hotline

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Domestic violence is defined as the use or threat of physical, emotional, sexual, or financial abuse to gain control over a partner in a primary relationship, whether either active or past, or over another family member. In 1994, New York City established a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week toll-free hotline for domestic violence victims.

The City entered into a contract with Victim Services, subsequently renamed Safe Horizon, to operate the Domestic Violence Hotline (Hotline). Safe Horizon, a not-for-profit organization, acts as a domestic violence liaison for a number of City agencies that are responsible for providing certain services related to domestic violence. The Mayor’s Office, through its Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator, oversees the contract. The Hotline is staffed by advocates who provide callers with information, crisis counseling, safety planning, and referrals to the City’s emergency shelter system and to non-residential services in the callers’ neighborhoods.

In 1996, the Mayor’s Office of Operations established the Citywide Customer Service Initiative that sets a telephone service standard. In its contract with the City, Safe Horizon advocates are required to answer Hotline calls within 20 seconds (equivalent to four rings) on average and are not allowed to put callers on hold (unless approved by a Hotline supervisor).

This audit was initiated to evaluate whether the Domestic Violence Hotline operates in compliance with its related contract with the City that requires calls to be answered within 20 seconds and that no calls be placed on hold without explicit supervisory approval. This audit also determined whether the Hotline is achieving its mission to provide accurate and useful telephone information to callers. The review period was July 2001 through February 2002.

To obtain a general understanding of the procedures that govern Hotline activities, we reviewed those provisions of Safe Horizon’s contract with the City that relate to the Hotline. We interviewed Safe Horizon officials, a Hotline supervisor and several advocates.

To determine whether phone calls are answered within 20 seconds on average and that they are not put on hold, we made a series of calls to the Hotline. We made 50 calls to the Hotline during the period July 24, 2001, through August 3, 2001, and another 15 calls to the Hotline during the period February 10–20, 2002.

To verify the accuracy of the referral information provided by advocates, we contacted the parties referred to us by advocates during our calls to the Hotline to determine whether those parties provided the services for which we were referred.

To determine the Hotline’s workload, we asked Safe Horizon to provide us with monitoring reports, such as the monthly system activity reports, for the period July 2001 through January 2002.

We reviewed the Hotline’s automated call distribution (ACD) system to understand how calls are received by the Hotline, how they are forwarded to advocates, and how they are tabulated for reporting purposes. To review Safe Horizon’s allocation of advocates to provide Hotline coverage, we obtained a list of the advocates along with their scheduled working hours. To determine whether there was adequate coverage on the Hotline to ensure that all calls were answered within the contract-mandated time frame, we reviewed the ACD system monitoring reports.

This audit was conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards (GAGAS) and included tests of the records and other auditing procedures considered necessary. This audit was performed in accordance with the New York City Comptroller’s audit responsibilities as set forth in Chapter 5, § 93, of the New York City Charter.

Our calls to the Hotline were answered within 20 seconds as required by Safe Horizon’s contract with the City. Furthermore, our calls were answered in 15 seconds (three rings) or less, which also meets the more stringent Citywide Customer Service Standard that calls be answered in no more than three rings. None of our test calls was placed on hold, in accordance with the contract. For the period July 2001 through January 2002, the reported average time to answer calls was 16 seconds.

In fiscal year 1996, the Hotline received 62,608 calls. In fiscal year 2001, the Hotline received 131,412 calls, a 110 percent increase. Safe Horizon officials attributed the dramatic increase to public education campaigns designed to increase awareness of domestic violence.

When callers obtain information from Hotline advocates, it is generally accurate, according to our test results. Also, all 46 referrals we received from advocates were appropriate: the agencies existed at the locations given by advocates and provided the services for which we were referred. The advocates were responsive to our needs. In addition, they had received training to carry out their responsibilities.

Overall, the Hotline appears to be doing a good job in answering calls promptly and in providing accurate information to callers. Since we found no material weaknesses in Safe Horizon’s administration of the Domestic Violence Hotline, we make no recommendations in this report.

The matters covered in this report were discussed with Safe Horizon and Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator (OCJC) officials during and at the conclusion of this audit. A preliminary draft report was sent to Safe Horizon and OCJC officials and was discussed at an exit conference on April 10, 2002. On April 12, 2002, we submitted a draft report to Safe Horizon and OCJC officials with a request for comments. We received written responses from OCJC and Safe Horizon on April 25, 2002, and April 29, 2002, respectively.

Both Safe Horizon and OCJC agreed with the report’s findings. Safe Horizon stated:

‘We appreciate the role of the Comptroller’s Office in ensuring that our hotline maintains the standards of the Citywide Customer Service Initiative as well as compliance with our contract through the Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator. We value the support of the Comptroller’s Office during the auditing process, and the findings of the report which identified no material weaknesses and no recommendations for change in our program.’

The OCJC Associate Coordinator stated:

‘I am in receipt of the above-referenced draft audit report and am pleased that you found no material weaknesses in the administration of the Domestic Violence Hotline and that the performance of the hotline is in accordance with the City’s contract with Safe Horizon.’