Debra Bridges, director of crime victim services in the Yamhill County District Attorney's Office (left), and Kevin Sharp-Smith, with DHS Child Welfare (right), present former Det. Todd Baltzell with the Champion for Children award.
   As a detective, Sgt. Todd Baltzell of the Newberg-Dundee Police Department spent more than a decade putting child abusers behind bars. And while he has no problems taking the stand in court, he is the kind of quiet, nonassuming man who doesn’t seek the spotlight.
   So he was taken aback May 2 during a work session of the Newberg City Council when members of the County Child Abuse Team presented him with the Champion for Children Award.
   It was fitting, however, because Baltzell had just finished briefing the council on a new task force he has created within the NDPD: the Domestic Violence Resource Team.
   “This department recognizes domestic violence as a person crime as important as child abuse,” Baltzell told the council. Yet, he said, it is difficult to investigate because victims often don’t want to collaborate. If they do and the prosecution is unable to get a conviction, the abuser is right back in their lives and in their homes.
   “It’s not like a bar fight,” he said of the abuse, “where two guys who don’t know each other’s beat on one another.”
   A study of NDPD’s call volume show that 5 to 10 percent are related to domestic violence. Those are tough cases to investigate because they require strong interviewing skills and evidence gathering.
   “We’re asking our patrol officers to become detectives on those house calls,” he said. There may be no bruises or any obvious clues that abuse is taking place, Baltzell said, yet it is and the seven officers who volunteered to form the team are being trained.
   Because of the city’s current budget woes, Baltzell said he’s been searching for free training, applying for scholarships, and asking local experts to volunteer their time. The patrol officers will follow up on potential abuse cases (he displayed an inch-thick folder of the work done since the team’s inception a couple of months ago) while still fulfilling their patrol duties.
   “(The officers) just want to make a difference in somebody’s life,” he said.

By: Laurent Bonczijk
- Newberg Graphic Published: 5/10/2011 7:17:00 PM