ROCKFORD — Aldermen appeared receptive tonight to the establishment of a mayor's office on domestic violence and human trafficking, but they haven't yet seen what it will cost.

Former Rockford assistant city attorney Jennifer Cacciapaglia, co-founder of the Rockford Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, presented a report that in part calls for creating an office in the mayor's administration that work to coordinate efforts to end domestic violence and human trafficking.

A mayor's office "sends an unmistakable message to perpetrators that their behavior has no place in our community," Cacciapaglia said. "But more importantly it sends a clear message to survivors and families traumatized and broken by these crimes: We are with you."

Mayor Tom McNamara had hired Cacciapaglia to study the issue. But he presented the issue to aldermen before talking about how much it would cost to hire someone to coordinate myriad efforts to combat domestic violence, one of the city's most pervasive crime problems, and attack an illicit sex trade.

Aldermen appeared open to the office, but Alderwoman Venita Hervey, D-5, and others were concerned about the city assuming responsibility for taking on another societal ill and bearing the brunt of the cost.

"Every time something comes up, it's Rockford's problem," Hervey said.

Alderwoman Ann Thompson-Kelly, D-7, seemed to agree and said there should be a regional approach taken to the issue of domestic violence and human trafficking.

Alderman Tim Durkee, R-1, said that faith-based organizations and clergy should also be involved.

"There is a cultural aspect to this," Durkee said. "Somewhere when it comes to ethics and virtue and how people treat each other, and where our core beliefs come from has sort of disappeared ... we have to start saying this — and I'm not going to apologize for it — sooner or later we are going to have to involve faith-based people. Sooner or later Christianity, religion, whatever you want to call it, has to be brought back into culture."

Rockford Police Department Lt. Kurt Whisenand said the importance of reducing domestic violence cannot be overstated because of its widespread implications.

Whisenand said children who grow up in a home in which there is domestic violence are prone to become victims or perpetrators of similar violence.

"Because they become desensitized to the violence, it fundamentally changes who they are as a human being and who they become as an adult," Whisenand said.

Jeff Kolkey: 815-987-1374; jkolkey@rrstar.com; @jeffkolkey