Stillwater PD has collected nearly 4,400 cellphones for domestic violence victims

Stillwater police Sgt. Ray Cordani looks on during an event Wednesday marking donations of cellphones for domestic violence victims.

All six of the homicides in Saratoga County between 2010 and 2014 involved domestic violence, according to state statistics.

The association between domestic violence and violent death shows the importance of highlighting the reporting incidents and providing services for victims, said Maggie Fronk, executive director of Wellspring, a Saratoga Springs agency that serves domestic violence and rape victims.

Fronk was among speakers at a news conference Wednesday marking the Stillwater Police Department’s donation of nearly 4,400 cellphones over the last 12 years for emergency use by domestic violence victims — the only such organized cellphone donation program in Saratoga County.

Stillwater police Sgt. Ray Cordani started the program in 2003, after someone from the Samaritan Counseling Center stopped by the police station as officers were considering how to dispose of three cellphones they were holding, and the counselor said they would be useful to domestic violence victims who need to alert someone if they are being attacked by a spouse or partner.

The phones are cleared of old memory and programmed to only be able to call 911, giving victims a way to alert authorities if they are being attacked. “This is truly a lifeline tool for people in domestic violence situations,” Sheriff Michael H. Zurlo said.

Cordani then organized a program that collects phones at several locations, including DeCrescente Distributing in Mechanicville and Wiley Brothers, a building supply company in Schaghticoke that collects old phones from many of the contractors that do business with it. The phones are donated to organizations like Wellspring and the Mechanicville Community Center, which also has a domestic violence services program.

“Programs like this shine a light on something I deal with every day,” said Saratoga County District Attorney Karen A. Heggen.

She said two prosecutors in her office work full-time on domestic violence cases, and in some of the larger local courts, there are days devoted specifically to domestic violence cases. “It’s pervasive throughout the county,” Heggen said. “Because it is often so quiet, people don’t realize the scope of the matter.”

October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.