By TARYN FITSIK

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- Domestic violence is the leading cause of homicide for women 16 years and older in New York, and now police hope a new electronic database will help them crack down on a growing problem.

With the database, police will know about any prior cases of domestic abuse immediately, no matter where they occur in New York State, giving them enormous potential to fight the violence.

Sandra, a local victim of domestic violence, says the new database is a huge step in the right direction.

"Anything that is done to help victims and prosecute the abusers is going to benefit every woman and child out there," says Sandra.

Right now, police officers fill out a domestic incident report, and then file it away in a hard copy form.

Now these reports will be linked together in a state-wide electronic database, so if an abuser has a trail of victims elsewhere, police will know about it.

"From the prosecution point of view, linking all this information together is really valuable," says Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney. "Because we know batterers often go from one victim to another."

Carney says in the city of Schenectady alone, police respond to about 14 domestic calls a day. He says with the database, prosecutors will have a much better shot at investigating and proving cases.

"We may never have found out those connections before this or if we did, it required a lot of legwork," says Carney.

9-1-1 dispatchers will also have access to the database, and be able to give police officers a heads-up before they get to the scene.

"We've got police that are just throwing up their hands, because before, there was nothing out there for them to do successfully other than in the locale you were residing," says Sandra. "I think that anything that's done will give hope to victims out there."

The database will be developed by the end of 2010, and up and running by 2011.