"All we need is a broom closet," says Grace Coleman, executive director of Crisis Center North, a nonprofit organization devoted to helping victims of domestic violence based in the North Hills.

She's looking for a place to put $15,000 worth of audio/video equipment that's going to be used for two-way conferencing, the same technology used by students who attend classes from home and for businesses to hold corporate meetings over vast distances.

For the past year, the technology has been the medium for Allegheny County to help victims of domestic violence connect with Night Court from various locations, like the police departments of Ross, Hampton and Moon and UPMC Passavant and Ohio Valley hospitals.

"Essentially, there's a line that's connected from here to Night Court. We have a television and camera system and they have the same thing, so they can see us and we can see them and the documentation is completed by fax," says Detective William Barrett, public information officer for Ross Township Police Department.

"We can do arraignments, pretrials and get PFAs very effectively."

Similar to a restraining order, a PFA, or protection-from-abuse order, shields an abused person from current or former partners, spouses, parents, children, siblings or cohabitants. The order makes contact or harassment on the part of the accused a misdemeanor criminal offense.

To obtain a PFA, a victim usually files with the local district justice's office. If the order is granted, it is served to the accused by local police.

Only emergency protection orders can be granted through video conferencing. This means the orders are valid only until the end of the next court business day.

Temporary and final orders must be granted by a district justice and can be valid for up to two weeks or 18 months, respectively.

After business hours, however, a victim would have to file at the county's Night Court in downtown Pittsburgh. Victims would have to travel into strange, unfamiliar territory, find parking and walk to the courthouse after the shock of abuse.

That's where video conferencing comes in.

Instead of driving downtown or a closer location where the video conferencing equipment is available, Sewickley residents and people who live in the northwest corridor of Allegheny County would have it readily available to them at Sewickley Valley Hospital.

Marc Booker, supervisor of legal advocacy services for CCN, says the new technology removes a service barrier.

"People in Allegheny County are known for being insular," he says. "Many people who live in Sewickley -- like other places in the county -- can probably count on their fingers how many times they've been downtown.

"With the technology in their communities, they can feel comfortable when they meet an advocate to help them through the process," says Booker, who spends every weekday escorting women through the PFA process.

Both he and Coleman spoke to Sewickley Valley Hospital administrators more than a year ago about finding a place for the equipment, but, according to Scott Monit, director of public relations at Heritage Valley Health Systems, the hospital and Crisis Center North are still in "initial discussions" and that "nothing has materialized" thus far.

The equipment, all $15,000 worth, is collecting dust in Booker's office while Coleman insists that it would help the hospital.

"It's a vital service they can provide," she says.

While a video conferencing location is just across the river in Moon Township, Booker says, the hospital locations are far more user friendly than police departments.

"At night, police stations are understaffed already," he says, "with three to four officers on duty.

"If they go on patrol and leave the station empty, there's no option to help out a victim of domestic abuse but to pull an officer off the street."

He adds that because hospitals are staffed 24-hours a day, they're better prepared to handle these situations. Meanwhile, officers can do what they do best, and it doesn't make the victim choose between seeking medical or legal attention."

Legal advocates would be dispatched to the hospital immediately to assist victims with the filing process. No hospital staff would need to be involved in the preliminary conference.

Coleman says physicians with patients who are victims of domestic abuse are required to testify as witnesses at trial. So instead of taking the day off to go downtown for the proceedings, they can take a small break, testify before the judge, be crossexamined and be back at work in a much shorter time.

"They can get back to what they do best," Coleman says, "helping people."

Sitting in a board room next to her office -- a cozy, newly-renovated loft in the North Hills -- Coleman explains that her experience as executive director at Crisis Center North has changed her outlook on life and made her rethink her priorities.

"I used to drive past houses thinking how beautiful the architecture was," she says. "Now I drive past houses wondering if abuse is happening inside."

For more information, to report domestic abuse or to talk to a counselor, call Crisis Center North at 412-364-5556.