Hold Team Meetings . Monitor and Evaluate Your Efforts . Sustain Your SART . Know Your Team . Critical Issues
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Law Enforcement Officials
The way victims are treated by dispatchers, responding officers who arrive at the scene and detectives investigating cases shape victim expectations about how they will be treated throughout the criminal justice process.56
When interacting with victims of sexual assault, law enforcement officers should57—
Model Policy for Investigating Sexual Assault Provides information on definitions of sexual assault, the roles and responsibilities of interagency responders, and guidelines for conducting interviews with victims, witnesses, and suspects.
Investigating Sexual Assaults Provides information on investigative strategies and procedures, preliminary victim interviews, drug-facilitated sexual assault, DNA technology, and suspect interrogation techniques.
- Give victims choices and options whenever possible.
- Give victims time to process information.
- Demonstrate sensitivity by using nonjudgmental questions, comments, and body language.
- Provide victims with timely updates on the status of investigations and final dispositions.
- Advise victims of their rights, including their rights to an advocate or support person.
- Refer victims to organizations that can assist them with their emotional, medical, legal, or financial needs.
This section covers the roles of various types of law enforcement personnel when working with victims:
- Dispatchers.
- Responding officers.
- Investigating officers.
- U.S. Border Patrol officers.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation agents.
- Park rangers.
- Campus law enforcement.
- Tribal law enforcement.
- Military law enforcement.
In This Toolkit: Law Enforcement
