By Hank Russell
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman accused his gubernatorial rival, Kathy Hochul, of failing victims of domestic violence after an audit found issues with the state’s Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence (OPDV) hotline regarding response times, communication problems and inaccurate foreign-language translations.
The state Comptroller’s Office recently issued an audit of the agency, stating it found “significant issues” with the OPDV hotline. In the 25 phone calls they made between December 2024 and June 2025, five of them never reached a live representative, three of which were met with “continuous beeping, indicating the call failed to connect to a live representative.”
The audit also contained a review of 60 days of calls made to the hotline. They found that, of the 2,814 calls made during that time period, 170 were not connected; that included the five calls made by the comptroller’s office that were not connected.
During that same time period, the auditors also sent 20 text messages and 20 web-based chat messages. Three of the text messages went unanswered and six took longer than the contractually obligated 30 seconds to receive a response. Of the 12 texts and eight web-based chats sent in six foreign languages, five of the messages experienced “translation issues. Of this, one was not translated and four were mistranslated.
The audit also found that only 72 state entities had gender-based violence policies in place. However, more than 500 additional state entities did not have such policies in place.
In addition, as of June 2025, OPDV had yet to implement its statutory mandate to develop or put in place prevention programs addressing domestic violence affecting older adults, the auditors said. “The prolonged failure to implement senior center-based prevention programs increases the risk that this particularly vulnerable population will not have access to domestic survivor resources,” the audit stated.
According to the audit, the Domestic Violence Advisory Council (DVAC) met only eleven times between 2018 and 2023. Further, only four of the 17 members representing major state agencies and advocacy groups attended all of these meetings and only three went less than half the time. “Although DVAC generally met its statutory obligation to meet twice annually, member participation was limited,” the audit stated. “Limited attendance reduces continuity and statewide collaboration, further constraining DVAC’s ability to effectively fulfill its advisory and coordination responsibilities.”
The comptroller’s office called OPDV to make the necessary improvements of response times and meeting attendance. In a response via letter, Kelli Nicholas Owens, OPDV’s executive director, wrote, “OPDV’s mission is to improve New York State’s response to and prevention of domestic violence, with the goal of enhancing the safety of all New Yorkers in their intimate and family relationships. Our statute charges OPDV with engaging in various activities to develop and implement policies and programs designed to assist victims of domestic violence and their families, and to provide education and prevention, training and technical assistance.”
Blakeman, meanwhile, said the OPDV’s failures, combined with Hochul’s criminal justice reform laws, make domestic violence victims even more vulnerable.
“Kathy Hochul’s cashless bail laws have already set dangerous domestic abusers free to terrorize their victims,” he said. “Now, a state audit proves that when these terrified victims gather the courage to call the state for help, they are met with a busy signal. Under Kathy Hochul, New York has created a perfect storm of failure: she lets the predators loose and turns off the lifeline for the victims. A busy signal for an abuse victim is a death sentence. It is an absolute disgrace, and it must end now.”
The Hochul campaign issued a statement in response to Blakeman’s comments. “‘100% MAGA’ Bruce Blakeman’s tenure as Nassau County executive has been a public safety disaster: He let violent crime hit ten-year highs and someone from his armed MAGA militia just pled guilty after bringing a loaded gun into an airport. While Governor Hochul invests billions in keeping New Yorkers safe, every day Blakeman proves he’ll choose MAGA insanity over New Yorkers’ safety every single time.”