Updated: Sep. 4, 2018 at 7:07 PM MST

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) – The Tucson Police Department announced on Tuesday, that it is getting hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money for domestic violence.

The nearly $750,000 grant will be used to help train nurses at a local hospital and to add domestic violence detectives to the department.

“I just thought, ok well we’ve been drinking so we got into a fight, but when I obtained all the information what domestic violence is I was really blown away,” said Tamara Howard, a domestic violence survivor. Howard said that in almost all of her adult relationships there has been some type of domestic abuse.

“All of the time I saw the red flags my partner wanted to isolate me,” said Howard. “I knew that I wasn’t safe but ignored those things and then eventually it became physically abusive.”

Howard was called names by her partners, and then she hit a low point, when she turned to drugs to cope.

“I felt like the person was going to bite my finger off at one point being punched in the face being attacked,” said Howard.

Howard’s case is an example of why TPD needs the grant funds to help victims of domestic violence.

“It allows us to fund two additional detectives positions within the TPD that would be focused on better serving our Spanish speaking population,” said TPD Chief Chris Magnus.

According to Chief Magnus, another part of the federal grant will go to TMC, so nurses can better spot hidden signs of violence.

“Other parts of it involve training particular around the strangulation, which is a heinous is crime and a part of too many domestic assault crimes,” said Chief Magnus.

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