Kevin Flynn, "Rise in Claims of Wife Abuse Against Police," New York Times Nov. 14, 1999: A39.

The number of complaints of domestic abuse committed by New York City police officers has continued to climb in the year since Officer Patrick J. Fitzgerald killed his wife, his children and himself in a rampage that drew attention to the often unspoken problem of domestic violence within police households, according to city statistics.

But police officials and an expert in domestic violence said they did not believe that the increase -- a 35 percent surge in serious complaints and a 14 percent rise in claims of less severe abuse -- was evidence of increased misconduct by officers this year.

Rather, the officials said, after an era in which domestic violence by police officers, and others, was ignored as a family matter or was hidden, recent steps by the Police Department have persuaded more victims to come forward with confidence that their complaints would be heard. Such steps include expanded efforts to monitor problem officers.

Police officials also said that officers called to a violent family fight at an officer's home are now more likely to report the fight, as required, because they understand the department has a heightened interest in confronting the problem.

"While they put some of these initiatives in place several years ago, it has now obviously become a very high priority," said Eleanor Pam, an expert on domestic violence at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who had been one of the most vocal critics of the way the Police Department handled domestic abuse by officers.

Experts on domestic violence say that abusive relationships involving officers are often more dangerous than similar ones involving civilians because the police have ready access to guns, and victims often feel they are unable to persuade members of the criminal justice system to pursue one of their own.

So far this year, the number of serious accusations of spousal abuse made against officers, including complaints of assault and other criminal conduct, has risen to 23 cases from 17 during the same period last year. The number of complaints filed against officers in a second category that covers less serious forms of misconduct, like harassment, has risen to 749 from 659, according to statistics compiled by the department's Internal Affairs Bureau, which monitors officers' conduct.

As evidence of their stricter stance, police officials cited statistics that show a 64 percent increase this year in the number of officers who were placed on desk duty and had their guns taken away because they had been accused of abusive behavior. Fourteen officers have been arrested in domestic violence cases, compared with eight last year, officials said.

"We are taking a tougher line on them," said Chief Charles V. Campisi of the Internal Affairs Bureau. "We are going out and talking about domestic incidents, and there's been better reporting by individuals, by victims who believe the department is taking it seriously."

But the family of Leeanne Fitzgerald is skeptical that there is a changed attitude about domestic violence within the ranks of the police. If there has been a change, her relatives say, it came too late to help her. Mrs. Fitzgerald, 38, was shot to death by her husband, Patrick, a Manhattan police officer, inside their home in Orange County, N.Y., in September of last year. Minutes later, Officer Fitzgerald killed his son Shane, 4; his daughter, Ashley, 7; and then himself.

Mrs. Fitzgerald's family says she regularly complained to her husband's supervisors at the 34th Precinct in Washington Heights about the abuse she was suffering, but they ignored her cries for help. The family's lawyer, Mel A. Sachs, said he would sue the department, contending the death was caused, in part, by the city's failure to act on Mrs. Fitzgerald's complaints.

The family has already filed a notice of claim, the precursor to a lawsuit, with the city comptroller's office.

"My sister called them and asked for help, and the help wasn't given," said Arlene Lee, Mrs. Fitzgerald's sister. "She was ignored. They swept it under the carpet."

Police officials said their investigation had found no evidence that Mrs. Fitzgerald had ever complained to the department.

Ms. Lee questioned whether the rising number of abuse complaints was really a vote of confidence by victims in how seriously the police are now treating the issue. "I don't know if it is so much that the Police Department has opened its eyes," she said.

"It's more that these women are frightened, terrified, but they had to do something once they saw what happened to my sister."

In fact, during October last year, just after Mrs. Fitzgerald and her children were slain, the department received 150 complaints of abuse, triple the normal number for a month.

But Ms. Pam of John Jay credited the department with pursuing a number of initiatives that she said showed an increased commitment to curbing domestic abuse, including enhanced training, the assignment of domestic violence specialists to every precinct, and a requirement that a supervisor respond to every domestic dispute involving a police officer.

"The ordinary police officer knows that this is being treated very seriously," she said. "The attention has filtered down."

It is still unclear, however, how severely the department is punishing those found guilty of misconduct stemming from domestic abuse.

In past years, the department has rarely fired officers found guilty of abuse during administrative proceedings, a policy that is far more lenient than those of other cities, like Baltimore, where all officers found guilty of such offenses are immediately fired.

Police officials said that they could not quickly calculate how many officers had been fired for domestic-related offenses this year. They said their computerized tracking system for disciplinary cases does not instantly show whether misconduct involved domestic abuse.

But they pointed to another statistic, the number of officers who have had their guns taken away because of claims of domestic abuse, as evidence of the department's commitment. So far this year, 120 officers have lost their guns, up from 73 during the same period last year.

An additional 26 officers have been suspended without pay this year, while they await the outcome of disciplinary proceedings, officials said.

Domestic violence complaints against officers are tallied each month by the Internal Affairs Bureau as part of its monitoring of police misconduct.

The bureau's definition of domestic violence covers a range of possible misbehavior, including assaults, threats, disorderly conduct and any violation of an order of protection. Chief Campisi said complaints in all categories of misconduct are down 14 percent this year.