Since 1984, state law has required all police agencies in the state to file monthly reports with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation about domestic violence.

The reports detail the number of runs each agency responded to and arrests made. In response to a public-records request by The Columbus Dispatch, BCII was able to produce only two years of information -- 2005 and 2008. But the data from those two years point to inconsistencies in how police handle domestic violence.

A Dispatch analysis of BCII data show:

• The county's two largest agencies -- the Columbus Division of Police and the Franklin County Sheriff's Office -- are twice as likely to file charges on a domestic violence run as police in the suburbs. Last year, those two agencies issued charges in three out of every four runs.
• In about 45 percent of those cases, suspects were charged with something other than domestic violence.
• The 28 police agencies in Franklin County reported about a 40-percent drop in the number of runs made in 2005 compared to 2008. Suburban agencies, however, showed a smaller decline. They reported a 25-percent drop.
• Eleven suburban agencies reported fewer runs in 2008 than in 2005. Westerville police reported 75 percent fewer runs. Grove City showed a 42-percent drop.
• Domestic violence runs increased in New Albany, Groveport, Dublin, Sharon Township, Reynoldsburg, Bexley and Gahanna.
• Bexley, Dublin, Groveport and New Albany had a lower charge rate in 2008 than they did in 2005. Yet those four agencies were among the seven suburbs with rising domestic violence rates.
• Last year, Franklin County law enforcement agencies averaged levying charges in 70 percent of domestic violence runs. Suburban agencies issued charges in only half their runs.