Further mishandling possible in homicide case, cops say

Nassau police officials who say a New Cassel woman's ex-boyfriend murdered her still don't know whether officers who responded to domestic violence calls just days before her death filed state-mandated forms documenting their visits. The New York Division of Criminal Justice - in an effort to track domestic violence incidents - requires police to file the forms after responding to such calls, not just those that result in arrests. Jo'Anna Bird, 24 and the mother of two, was stabbed to death in her home on March 19; police have charged Leonardo Valdez-Cruz, 23, of Westbury, with second-degree murder. Seven officers face disciplinary action after an internal police review found they failed to properly handle domestic violence calls to Bird's mother's home. Advocates for abused women say the state forms help establish a pattern of abuse and help women with orders of protection build cases against their abusers. "It remains to be seen whether or not the appropriate forms were or were not filled out," Det. Lt. Kevin Smith, a police spokesman, said Monday. Smith said officers responding to domestic violence calls must fill out the state forms and a police case report. As a result of the Bird case, Nassau will now require police officers who don't fill out the forms to call a desk officer to explain why, immediately after responding to a call. Mindy Perlmutter, of the Nassau County Coalition Against Domestic Violence in Hempstead, said most officers fill out the forms but in Bird's case, "Certain police officers did not do their job properly and that is sad and that is dangerous. If they didn't fill it out, the police officers at the scene probably didn't take the situation seriously." Bird's order of protection required Valdez-Cruz to stay away from her. Her family's attorney, Fred Brewington of Hempstead, says that in the days leading up to her March 19 slaying, police found Valdez-Cruz at her mother's Westbury home while Bird was there but did not arrest him. The matter of whether police properly enforced Bird's order of protection remains murky. In New York, violation of an order of protection like Bird's is grounds for immediate arrest. "I believe he was at [Bird's mother's] house [once]," Smith said. But Smith said if Bird wasn't there while Valdez-Cruz was, he might not have violated the protective order. Police are still investigating. Barbara Barron, a Hofstra University law professor and former Manhattan assistant district attorney, said the law enforcement community needs to examine the way orders of protection are worded. "I don't think our law is lax," Barron said. "I think what happens is you have problems enforcing it and problems with the nature and specificity of the stay-away orders of protection." Tim Motz, a Suffolk police spokesman, said, "If an order of protection is violated . . . the officer is required to make an arrest and, if the violator is not at the scene when the officer arrives, we will get the word out on police radio and endeavor to locate the violator."