Their “resources” must have been strapped doing important things serving us citizens like writing tickets, busting small college parties, eating donuts, participating in motorcycle gangs terrorizing families and throwing flashbangs into cribs.
Anyone who still believes the job of the police is to protect the citizenry has moldy dogshit where their brains are supposed to be. Their jobs are to generate revenue from us for their political bosses, they have no responsibility to us, only to their masters.
Some police escort domestic violence victims retrieving belongings, but it can be a hard call
Laurie Kuykendall Kepner’s family said she requested police escort her the night she and a friend were killed
Several police departments in York County will escort someone who feels threatened when they retrieve belongings from a home.
But, some police say, it can be a difficult decision. For example, sometimes there is limited manpower and a lot of calls. And police are wary about being drawn in to civil disputes.
Pennsylvania has no law requiring law enforcement agencies to provide such an escort, according to Ellen Kramer, legal director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Because it’s not regulated unless there is a court order — which can be issued when someone obtains a PFA or as a term of a divorce — police departments have discretion over how and to whom they provide the service.
On May 29, Laurie Kuykendall Kepner reached out to several law enforcement agencies to request that an officer escort her to the Warrington Township home she had shared with her husband, Martin Kepner, to retrieve some of her belongings, according to her friends and family.
But Kepner could not get an escort from state police, which covers the area where Kepner lived, or from the sheriff’s department or Northern York Area Regional Police, according to her family.
Although at least five York County police departments provide such escorts, none of the ones Kepner called do so without a court order.
While Laurie Kepner and her friend, Barbara Schrum, were at the home, Martin Kepner killed both women and then took his own life, police said.
Kepner’s friends and family say they want to see something change that can help others in similar situations.
“The thing we want to know is why it happened,” said Mary Kuykendall, Laurie’s mother. “Why, when she called for help, she got no help?”
Like the dynamics of domestic violence, the answer to that question, several in law enforcement say, is complicated.
Protocol varies
Laurie Kepner had gone back to her husband’s home several times before the night she was killed, her family and friends said.
She went back once to get her cat, and other times to get her sewing machines, which she needed since she was a seamstress, said Carol Rodgers, the wife of Laurie Kepner’s boss.
On those occasions, Laurie Kepner called police departments, the sheriff’s office and constables for an escort, Rodgers said. Escorts weren’t provided then, but Martin Kepner was accommodating.
Rodgers said that Laurie confided in her how difficult it was trying to create a new life.
“We spent hours in conversation about what it felt like for her,” Rodgers said. “She vacillated between feeling afraid (of Martin) and hopeful” that they could be friends.
That complexity of relationships where domestic violence is present is part of what complicates the issue of police departments providing escorts.
“We do the best we can” when people request a police escort to retrieve belongings, said Newberry Township Police Chief John Snyder. “A lot of times, if there’s a danger element at all, we try to help the citizens. However, sometimes, we get entwined in civil matters. What happens is you become the divider of personal property, and we don’t have any authority in that.”
Snyder said his department will accompany someone after they’ve initially left the residence, but they’re not going to wait while someone packs up the entire household.
“We can’t act as a private agent for any individual,” Snyder said. But, “at no time do I believe would we abandon someone.”
Snyder said he has to decide the best use of his department’s resources. With three officers working at a time, it’s not fair to the other citizens in his jurisdiction for one third of the force to stand by for hours while two people hash out the division of their property.
York Area Regional Police, Southwestern Regional Police, Spring Garden Township Police and Northern York County Regional Police will also often provide escorts upon request.
Southwestern Chief Greg Bean said his department gets about a half-dozen requests per week. They don’t have time to go to each one.
His officers find out if there’s a history of violence, he said. If there is, officers try to do the escort. If there isn’t, officers ask the person to call 911 if there’s any kind of dispute.
“We do understand the need,” Bean said, “We just have to be very practical about how much of our time we can give for instances that the vast majority never amount to an issue or a problem.”
York Area Regional Sgt. Jeff Dunbar said his department gets such requests “all the time.” Officers from his department will do the escort for essential belongings, like medications, or if there’s an immediate need for an item.
Northern York County Regional Police Chief Mark Bentzel said his department looks at the requests on a case-by-case basis.
Most of the time, an officer will be there as someone gets essential belongings, Bentzel said.
He could not determine by searching department records if Laurie Kepner called for an escort on May 29. But, he said, Martin Kepner’s home is not in his department’s jurisdiction.
Spring Garden Township Police Chief George Swartz said his department will provide an escort, but in the interest of time, “we would not be able to stand by while somebody empties the contents of their home.”
Court order necessary sometimes
Neither the York County Sheriff’s office nor constables provide escorts without court orders. But state police refer callers to those agencies, Trooper Robert Hicks said.
Hicks, state police public information officer, said Friday that he didn’t have an answer for why that is.
Sheriff Richard Keuerleber said requests for an escort made to his office are referred to the police department that covers the area where the home is.
Keuerleber said Laurie Kepner’s death “saddens my heart.” But “without a court order, we really have no authority to do (an escort),” Keuerleber said. “We work for the courts. We have to have the court order to do (an escort).”
Carl Barley, a constable for more than 25 years and the past president of the York County constables association, said Friday that he didn’t know why state police continue to refer requests for an escort to constables.
Constables used to be able to do escorts or standbys, but that was more than a decade ago, before they had to start carrying liability insurance that won’t cover escorts or standbys unless they’re court-ordered.
“I still to this day have people calling me,” Barley said. “We’re sort of left between a rock and a hard place.”
Barley said the law leaves some alleged victims of domestic violence in a difficult place, too.
After constables stopped doing escorts, there was never any provision made to allow for an escort for people who don’t have a PFA or a divorce decree, he said. “The problem is, if they’re not married, they can’t get a divorce decree, and there’s fairly strict guidelines for getting a PFA,” he said.
According to data provided by the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, York County judges denied 44.6 percent of requests for temporary PFAs in 2013, in contrast with the 12.8 percent denied statewide.
Safety plan
The practice of escorts varies from one police department to the next, but advocates for survivors of domestic violence advise against ever going back to a former residence. Statistics show that 75 percent of fatalities happen when a person is leaving the situation where there’s domestic violence.
“When people say, hey, we just want to go back and get some of our stuff, we advise against it all the time,” said Rick Azzaro, chief services officer with ACCESS-York. “We advise that your safety is No. 1.”
Azzaro said his office will help someone who has left a domestic violence relationship to rebuild. It will help getting new medications if those were left behind, among other things.
Kramer, with PCADV, said people considering leaving their relationship can work with organizations like ACCESS-York to develop a safety plan. Part of that plan might provide for finding ways to remove some belongings from the home prior to leaving.
Advocates advise against returning home even if a friend goes with you because it’s still a dangerous situation.
That’s what happened to Barbara Schrum when she went with Laurie Kepner.
State Sen. Pat Vance, a Cumberland County Republican who represents areas of York County including Warrington Township, said she went to Schrum’s Dover business, Shoppe American Made, the day before Schrum was killed. Vance was there was there to spotlight the store for monthly videos that are posted on her website.
“I was absolutely horrified to hear about her murder,” Vance said. “She just seemed like a person who would do anything for anybody.”
Vance said she wants to find out more about how alleged victims of domestic violence can get an escort to get their belongings. She said she doesn’t have any answers now, “but I’m going to talk to some people.”
Snyder, the Newberry Township police chief, underscored that police want to help people who need protection. Still, he said, it can be difficult to provide escorts to everyone, everywhere.
“We have to figure out the best course of action,” he said.
PFAs and weapons
Carol Rodgers, a friend of Laurie Kuykendall Kepner, said Kepner didn’t want to get a PFA against her husband because Martin was a hunter, and Laurie was “trying to keep things copacetic,” and she didn’t want to humiliate him by filing for a PFA and having his guns taken away.
While the Protection From Abuse Act provides the court with the discretion to remove some or all of the defendant’s guns or other weapons when entering a temporary or final PFA Order, according to Ellen Kramer, the legal director of PCADV, a petitioner can request that the guns not be removed.
Kramer said the person requesting the PFA can make no request, or request that some or none of the guns be taken. But, she pointed out, the court doesn’t always follow the petitioner’s request.
How to help
You can help a friend or family member who is being abused. Here’s how:
Call police if you see or hear abuse.
Ask if they are safe or need to talk.
Tell them free, confidential help is available locally through ACCESS-York, which can be reached at 717-846-5400. Another resources, the National Domestic Violence hotline, can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE.
You can offer to drive them to a local shelter, offer to drive them to a place where they can make a phone call or offer to babysit so they can make an appointment for help.
…police and firefighters are actually “second responders”…”first responders” are average citizens that have no right to police “protection” per “supreme court” decisions…
This story fits several Narratives. As such, it is surely propaganda.
1. Was this chick (and her bud) bat-guano crazy? Women are notorious for creating drama and then trying to get men to White Knight for them. For this reason alone I would refuse to help most women (outside my wife and daughters-in-law.) Women today are sowing the wind, and will surely discover that 3rd wave feminism has bought them the whirlwind.
2. Those who refuse to see to their own safety are sheep for slaughter. Personal safety is not something that can be ordered for delivery like a pizza.
We DON’T KNOW the real story here. As such, drawing conclusions is unwarranted. Don’t groupthink, think for yourself.
PS: All this “Order of Protection” crap is often a ruse to hammer an innocent man who happens to own guns. Like accusations of child abuse, women who pollute our society by these tactics are directly responsible when their Kabuki Theater gets another woman raped or killed.