Suffolk sheriff's Domestic Violence Bureau adding deputies, office space

The Suffolk County Sheriff's Office will grow its Domestic Violence Bureau and refurbish and expand the bureau's offices, Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. said.

The offices, located in Central Islip, will be named to honor Kathy Germaine, a Holbrook woman whose 1992 shooting death by her estranged husband spurred county leaders to assign the task of serving protective orders in domestic violence cases to the sheriff’s office. For at least four years before that change, the person seeking protection was required to deliver the court order or find someone to do it.

Toulon announced the expansion Thursday at the Yaphank Correctional Facility, flanked by officials and Germaine's sister and son. The Domestic Violence Bureau will increase from 20 to 28 full-time deputies, with two additional supervisors, Toulon said. That is a far cry from the early '90s, when protective orders were served by nonspecialist deputies working overtime.

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"We once had a policy that turned away people asking for help," Toulon said. "It is clear that the system was broken in '92 ... It took a tragic loss for the county to make a change that has undoubtedly saved countless lives." 

An order of protection forbids certain behavior, such as having contact with the person seeking protection. The court action can also include "stay-away" orders that forbid contact, limited orders that forbid family, and criminal offenses like harassing and assault, according to the state’s Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence.

In 2023, Suffolk sheriff's deputies from the Domestic Violence Bureau served 5,287 court orders of protection and 3,468 Extreme Risk Protection Orders, issued when a judge deems a person to be a danger to themselves or others and requires them to surrender any guns they possess. The deputies also seized almost 200 guns. In 2024 so far, they have served 3,065 orders of protection and 1,424 extreme risk orders, seizing 136 weapons. Toulon said deputies' workload was growing, driven by easier access to firearms and stressors like the pandemic.

In 1989, Newsday reported that Judge Arthur Abrams, then-supervising judge for Suffolk's Family Court, the source of many orders of protection, had instructed his judges in some cases to make complainants responsible for serving protective orders themselves. Abrams told Newsday at the time that complainants who took their cases seriously were likely to make sure orders of protection made it to their estranged spouses. Ruth Brandwein, then the Social Services Commissioner, told Newsday that some women were too afraid or did not know how to make arrangements to have the orders served on violent husbands.

Praise from survivors

In interviews, advocates for survivors of domestic violence on Long Island praised the expansion. Protective orders do not guarantee safety but, by promising criminal justice consequences for violators, can "absolutely" save lives, said Wendy Linsalata, executive director of Long Island Against Domestic Violence, a Ronkonkoma-based nonprofit.

"They need to get those orders served as quickly as possible," Linsalata said. Increased staffing will improve safety for survivors and the deputies themselves, she said.

"Serving orders of protection can put these deputies at risk," she said. "It’s a volatile situation when they’re serving these things, and the more staff the better."

While Linsalata said the need for protective orders appears to be growing — her own organization assists about 7,000 survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence per year — deputies handle the most.

"I don’t know how they do it, but they do it," she said, adding that the court documents "are served timely and efficiently."

Another advocate, Loretta Davis, executive director of East Hampton-based nonprofit The Retreat, praised the expansion but said she hoped it would be accompanied by more shelter beds for people fleeing domestic violence. The county has only 52, she said, and because of the shortage, people sometimes take refuge in homeless shelters that do not have the security measures and services of a dedicated domestic violence shelter. 

Jennifer Hernandez, cofounder and executive director of Islandia-based ECLI-VIBES, said protective orders need to be used along with other strategies by courts, law enforcement and nonprofits like hers.

LGBTQ community benefits

David Kilmnick, president of the LGBT Network, which operates the Long Island Anti-Violence Project, said the expansion could help LGBTQ clients who face domestic and intimate partner violence at rates equal to or higher than the general population but may be wary of turning to the courts or law enforcement for help.

"LGBT survivors face additional barriers like the fear of being outed to family or employers, and may have concerns about discrimination from law enforcement and limited access to inclusive shelters," he said.

In 1992, Newsday reported that, before Germaine’s July 8 killing, a Family Court judge had denied a temporary order of protection against her husband, Thomas Germaine. The judge instead told her to have a summons served for him to appear in court with her for a hearing on whether she should receive an order of protection. She couldn’t find her husband to give him the summons and neither one appeared in court. Her case was dismissed.

Days later, Thomas Germaine visited the Patchogue construction company where she worked and shot her five times point-blank with a .357-caliber Magnum pistol. Sentenced in 1993 to 22 years to life in prison, Germaine was 76 in 2012 when he died in prison in upstate Coxsackie.

On Thursday, Kathy Germaine's sister, Linda Brotzman, a human resources manager from East Islip, said her sister's murder "affected everybody in different ways ... It affected my family, it affected our father. I think he died an early death because of this." 

TJ Dinkelman, Kathy Germaine's son, who lives in Holbrook and works for the Long Island Rail Road, said he thinks of his mother often.

"She didn't get to see me go to prom, graduate high school, get married or have kids," he said.