Beshear signs proclamation to designate October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month

FRANKFORT, Ky. – Gov. Andy Beshear and first lady Britainy Beshear joined survivors and advocates to proclaim October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Kentucky.

Along with signing the proclamation, Beshear also announced a $2.5 million grant is being awarded to the commonwealth to help law enforcement bring justice to victims of sexual assault.

Beshear’s office says the Kentucky State Police will use the funding to add to their team dedicated to testing sexual assault kits and improving sexual assault data collection to improve the identification of predators.

The governor’s office says this is the second-largest award in state history for the department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.

The first lady thanked survivors in attendance for their courage and said in Kentucky, “more than 45% of women and 35% of men experience intimate partner violence in their lifetimes.”

Funding will also be provided to the Louisville Metro Police Department to hire personnel to assist KSP with testing and for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet’s Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Center to perform a study of sexual assault kit data, according to the governor’s office.