MANCHESTER, NH – It’s been 10 years since Manchester Police Department started partnering with community organizations to connect children impacted by domestic violence and other crimes to support services through its ACERT program.
ACERT, which stands for Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team, was the first of its kind in the country and is a partnership between YWCA-NH, Amoskeag Health and the Manchester Police Department. The ACERT team connects children and families to mental health and mentorship programs, caregiver support, and more. The program started with a single part-time employee and has grown to a full two-person unit, says Det. Sgt Kevin O’Meara of the Domestic Violence Unit at Manchester Police Department.
It’s one resource the department’s Domestic Violence Unit uses to support victims of domestic and sexual violence.
As part of awareness around April’s Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Ink Link spoke with O’Meara and Rashida Mohamed, Domestic and Sexual Violence Victim Advocate at Manchester Police Department about their work.
The Domestic Violence Unit works on domestic violence cases, human trafficking cases, and adult sexual assault cases. In 2025, the department received 2,768 domestic calls for service, 164 sexual assault calls for service, and made 1,028 domestic violence and sexual assault related arrests, according to the department.
The ACERT program has existed for a decade and the department now gets calls from others interested in building similar programs. One newer project that Mohamed is involved with is a collaboration with New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and community organizations to provide loans to victims of domestic violence.
A low-interest loan for things like car repairs or first month’s rent and security deposit to move into a safer apartment can help people leave an abusive situation and rebuild their lives, she says.
“Maybe for somebody [a $5,000 loan is] nothing, but for somebody who’s just starting to move forward from an abusive relationship, it could be a big help,” says Mohamed, who has been with the department for 16 years. As part of her job, she advocates for victims, helps them understand their options, and links them to social services.
Another recent initiative has been to serve more domestic violence petitions, stalking orders of protection, and emergency orders of protection. Four years ago, the department made a concentrated push to serve more of these orders after receiving a grant.
In 2025, the department served 645 of these orders, O’Meara says, which is three times the number of orders they were able to serve before. This effort is important because restraining orders are not active until they’ve been served by law enforcement, Mohamaed says.
“We’ve had nights that we’ve served seven [orders] in a night just in that four hour block, when normally you’d maybe get seven served in the whole week,” O’Meara says. “So that’s been huge.”
For more resources around domestic violence and sexual assault, visit the Manchester Police Department’s webpage or theNew Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.