After a year of independently covering crime, courts and public safety in eastern Iowa and northwestern Illinois, I’ve seen what our most pressing issues are in these fields – especially domestic violence.
I believe we should have a public registry for domestic violence offenders, similar to the one we have for sex offenders. And with your support – that is exactly what I intend to do for the Quad Cities region.
To get us started, I have obtained records for more than 3,000 domestic-related arrests in Scott County since 2021 – and I will build a prototype registry using these cases to showcase what can be done in other jurisdictions.
It may take several weeks (or months) to sift through each arrest and corresponding court documents. And then to expand further back in time in Scott County, or into other counties, it will incur considerable costs for time, records requests, web management & data storage.
In addition to building, and promoting, the registry, I also plan on publishing a series of articles with stories from local survivors I have interviewed – as well as insight from local professionals and faith leaders – to learn more about how we can solve the issue of domestic violence in our communities.
Please consider giving a donation to help make our communities, dating lives and relationships safer in the QCA region.
Click HERE to access our GoFundMe page and donate. If you are a business and would like to sponsor this registry project, please email me at news@kylejbales.com.
Thank you – KJB
