Wachs Proposes Trust Fund for Victims of Domestic Abuse

Saying that Nicole Brown Simpson’s tape-recorded cries for help continue to ring in his ears, Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs on Monday proposed establishing a Police Department trust fund devoted to domestic violence that would bear her name.

Wachs said he would offer a formal motion this week to devote an additional $250,000 a year to fighting the problem of domestic abuse.

The money, which is expected to come mainly from city funds but also to include state and federal grants, would pay for a full-time domestic violence coordinator at the Los Angeles Police Department, added training for detectives throughout the city, cameras to help document abuse and informational literature in several languages.

In the aftermath of O.J. Simpson’s double murder trial, “Nothing stands out in my mind more than the cries of Nicole Brown Simpson that, for all practical purposes, went unanswered,” Wachs said, referring to the 911 tapes in which Nicole Simpson said the police “never do anything” about her repeated reports of abuse at the hands of her husband.