State grants $2.2 million to Suffolk domestic violence response efforts

Suffolk County received $2,237,926 from Albany to sharpen domestic-violence investigations, prosecutions and survivor services, with the money spread across five local agencies that touch a case from the first 911 call to court supervision.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office will get $721,375, the Suffolk County Police Department $560,000, the Suffolk County Probation Department $167,248 and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office $98,612. Long Island Against Domestic Violence will receive $690,691, giving the county’s primary survivor-service provider a larger role in a response plan that depends on both enforcement and support.

The award came from New York’s $23 million Statewide Targeted Reductions in Intimate Partner Violence initiative, known as STRIVE. State officials said the second year expands participation to 42 police departments across 17 counties and supports 110 full-time and 120 part-time positions statewide. More than 1,200 public safety professionals were trained in evidence-based, trauma-informed domestic violence response methods during the program’s first year.

Governor Kathy Hochul said the investment was meant to strengthen coordination across the justice system and expand access to critical services for survivors. Rossana Rosado, the state’s Division of Criminal Justice Services commissioner, said STRIVE was designed to help agencies identify risk earlier and respond more consistently across jurisdictions. In Suffolk, that should translate into more coordinated follow-up between police, prosecutors, probation officers, the sheriff’s office and advocates when a complaint involves repeated abuse, an order of protection or a dangerous escalation.

The new funding also landed against a broader backdrop of heavy state public-safety spending on Long Island. In July 2025, Suffolk law enforcement agencies received more than $1.3 million through the Gun Involved Violence Elimination initiative for equipment, personnel, overtime and training. State officials said shootings in GIVE jurisdictions fell 52 percent between 2021 and 2024, and Long Island recorded its lowest number of shootings in recent history in 2024. Suffolk County also approved a separate $7,111,687 state technology grant in 2024 for the police department, with that money running from May 1, 2024 through April 30, 2026.

That record leaves Albany with a familiar test in Suffolk: whether another multimillion-dollar grant turns into visible change in patrol response, case-building and survivor access, or simply adds one more headline to an already crowded public-safety ledger.