TUKWILA A Tukwila police officer has enlisted 10 hotels and motels to provide temporary housing for victims of domestic violence.
Officer Karen Sotace says she fields a call at least once a week from a fleeing spouse or family, but shelter beds are difficult to come by in this suburban city south of Seattle.
The only shelter in south King County is usually full. Motel vouchers are available from some agencies, but they can be scarce when money runs low.
Sotace had the idea of asking hotel managers if they would be willing to provide rooms once in a while to families fleeing domestic violence. Its a two- or three-day stay coordinated through the Domestic Abuse Womens Network.
Since March, there have been about three dozen referrals. Sotace maintains a book to keep track of hotels so officers can provide extra security if needed.
The department knows that when DAWN gets a referral to a hotel, they fax it to my station so that all the officers know who is in the city, she said.
Sotace said it wasnt difficult to get hotels to agree to be involved in the sometimes-risky business of sheltering victims.
She knows the hotel and motel owners in her city, she said, noting that she responds to their calls and patrols their parking lots. She said hotels often are first to step forward in the community to help out with charity and community events.
Sotace wants to interest other hotels in King County in the program. She would like a police officer in every community to connect with the hotels and help maintain security.
The people who are placed into a Tukwila hotel do not use their own names and are asked to keep their location secret from others. There has only been one instance in which a husband called a motel looking for his wife under her real name.
Each hotel gets a booklet from the domestic abuse network. The first section deals with safety requirements, such as placing a family above the ground floor or keeping victims close to the lobby.
Sotace, an officer for five years with Tukwila, remembers her first domestic violence call. The woman who answered the door had been beaten by her boyfriend and she was covered in blood.
She couldnt talk, her mouth was swollen so badly, Sotace said.
The boyfriend was sentenced to more than two years in prison.
Sotace knows that ending domestic violence isnt as simple as telling someone to call for help. But the hotel program helps provide one more avenue for desperate victims, she said.
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