Law Enforcement
This section reviews—
SART Approach for Anonymous Reporting—North Carolina
Overview
The Chapel Hill Police Department's Sexual Assault Response Team initially consisted of a sexual assault investigator, a juvenile investigator, and a sexual assault/domestic violence victim advocacy specialist. The team was created to provide case consultation to investigators and case management to victims. In March 1996, the SART concept was opened to field officers and 11 were selected to participate. Currently, 37 officers have received specialized training in the response to sexual violence and work closely with the department's investigators and crisis counselors. In addition to normal shift calls, these trained officers are required to respond to all sexually violent crimes that occur during their shift.
Goals
The SART model provides sensitive and consistent responses to victims of sexual violence, reduces the need for multiple victim contacts, promotes precise case documentation, and maintains standards for reliable evidence collection. Prior to 1990, the Chapel Hill Police Department's SART did not have a formal system for collecting evidence on sexual assaults that were not reported to police. However, the police department knew that evidence collected anonymously could provide crucial links to unsolved crimes and more options for victims of sexual violence. The benefits of anonymous reporting to law enforcement include providing a way to track suspects' modes of operation (MOs), suspect descriptions, crime locations, and victim demographics. Victims benefit because officers can recover time-sensitive evidence if victims later choose to make formal reports, and SART practitioners can connect them to community-based services.
Making the Idea a Reality
The Chapel Hill Police Department consulted with their department's attorney and the district attorney (DA) about creating a formal method of documenting sexual assault reports from victims who did not want their identities known. The DA and police department attorney both agreed that such a system could provide a vital link to crucial evidence for existing cases. A protocol emerged that adhered to the state's reporting requirements and the department's standard operating procedures. For example, anonymous reporting is not an option for victims who are minors or for children who fall into the mandated reporting category. However, older adolescents who are accompanied by a parent and develop safety plans may be eligible to file an anonymous report. Anonymous reports are tracked by the sexual assault specialist and the lieutenant of investigations and analyzed against existing sexual assault, burglary, peeping, and indecent exposure cases.
North Carolina's anonymous reporting form (Word) has a place to document whether a victim agrees to be contacted by law enforcement if a link with other sexual assault cases should develop. If a victim consents to be contacted and a link to other cases develops, the sexual assault specialist works with the investigations division before contacting the victim. The sexual assault specialist performs sensitive followup with the victim with the goal of receiving his or her cooperation in a formal investigation. The original anonymous report becomes a foundation document upon which to build an investigative interview, similar to an information report or a written statement.
Lessons Learned
Anonymous reporting is a standard option offered by the Chapel Hill Police Department. The number of anonymous reports per year generally averages between two and five cases. Data collected from anonymous reports thus far shows that the victim-offender relationship encompasses both stranger and non-stranger assaults. Although most reports filed anonymously involve an offender known to the victim, blind reports are also made in cases in which the victim does not know the perpetrator. These cases generally involve male rape victims, same-sex sexual assault cases, and cases in which victims' have an insurmountable fear of offender retaliation.
Evaluation Efforts
The anonymous reporting option is reviewed annually to ensure that the reports stay within the department's standard operating procedures for sexual assaults and rapes.
Contact Information
Chapel Hill Police Department
Sabrina Garcia, M.A.
828 Martin Luther King Boulevard
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
919–968–2760
Sexual Assault Cold Case Program—Texas
Overview
The Dallas Police Department believes that justice is not served until crime victims are. The Department's Sexual Assault Unit created SEACAP (Sexual Assault Cold Case Program) to assist victims who were sexually assaulted during the 1970s and 1980s. The department understands that sexual assault is a life-changing event and that victims often need to know who attacked them before they can find a sense of safety or closure.
With DNA advances and the establishment of CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), technology now exists to solve sexual assault crimes committed by strangers. However, victims sexually assaulted in the 70s and 80s did not have the benefit of this technology to help identify their perpetrators. To assist victims, the unit will check the status of older cases at a victim's request. The following criteria must be met before law enforcement can conduct a cold case review:
- The victim expresses interest in the status of the case.
- The crime occurred between 1970 and 1990.
- The crime was reported to the Dallas Police Department.
- The attacker was unknown.
- A sexual assault examination was completed.
- The police department took custody of a suspect's DNA source (e.g., condom, underwear).
Even though perpetrators cannot be prosecuted in cold cases because the statute of limitations has run out, the identification of sex offenders and the links to other cases can be valuable to the criminal justice system as well as to victims. The criminal justice system, for example, can use cold case DNA hits during parole eligibility hearings and the punishment phases of future criminal cases. Victims can write protest letters to parole boards regarding the release of their cold case offenders. This allows victims to have some power over the offender's future, even though the offender was not prosecuted for the victim's sexual assault.
It is important to note that the majority of the offenders identified through SEACAP were currently serving time in prison for unrelated crimes at the time of the cold hit.
Goals
The Dallas Police Department seeks to—
- Help victims by providing them with answers to questions about their cold cases.
- Solve cases and thus promote justice and empowerment for victims. For example, victims may request that the offender not be granted early release if the perpetrator is already serving time for another crime.
Making the Idea a Reality
This project was developed after victims asked about the status of their cases, some of which were almost 20 years old. As a result of the requests, the sergeant in charge of the Sexual Assault Unit pulled the old cases from archives and had DNA from the forensic exam kits analyzed and run through CODIS to find a match. After solving several cases this way, the unit developed SEACAP, which it introduced to the community with a press conference.
SEACAP refers victims for counseling as needed and also facilitates a victim-driven cold case support group at the Dallas Police Department. The victim services coordinator at the police department and a counselor from a nonprofit agency facilitate the group, which began when 11 of the first 12 victims in SEACAP expressed interest in attending monthly support group meetings where they could share information in a safe, confidential environment.
Benefits to Victims
SEACAP empowers victims with information and helps to reduce their fears about their unknown attackers. When cases are solved, victims often feel great relief. Also, when offenders are denied early parole based on cold hits, SEACAP prevents future offenses and thus enhances public safety.
Benefits to Victim Service Professionals
SEACAP helps victim service professionals understand the long-term effects of unsolved sexual assaults on victims. Also, SEACAP gives service providers the satisfaction of assisting victims in a way that facilitates recovery.
Evaluation Efforts
One example of a positive outcome of the program is a case in which the identified offender had his parole rescinded as a result of letters and calls from the victim and the police department. The offender's incarceration was extended 3 years just a few months before he was scheduled to be released.
Other efforts need to be evaluated once this program has been in effect for a longer period of time.
Lessons Learned
- The Dallas Police Department has learned that sexual assault victims suffer long-term trauma, and that service providers need to provide assistance, services, support, and validation long after a crime occurs.
- SEACAP staff learned that reopening cold cases creates victim ambivalence. Many want their cases to be solved, but at the same time, mixed feelings and emotions emerge that may confuse victims. The Cold Case Unit established a cold case victim support group to help victims cope with ambivalence and concerns.
- SEACAP has strengthened victims' sense of safety and security. Some victims have expressed how important it is for them to know that someone cares, particularly someone at the law enforcement level.
Contact Information
Crimes Against Persons Division: Victim Services
Dallas Police Department
Pat Keaton, M.A., LBSW, LPC–I
Victim Services Coordinator
214–671–3587
Cold Case Program: Sexual Assault—Colorado
Overview
"Cold case" is a term used to describe unresolved cases. A case is deemed unresolved when all leads have been exhausted and there are no suspects. With the recent developments in DNA technology, detectives can reevaluate past cases and discover new leads.
The Denver Police Department's Cold Case Investigations Unit provides dedicated investigators and specialized victim assistance when cold cases are reopened.
Goals
The Cold Case Investigations Unit's goals are to—
- Use a team approach. To address all of the victim's and/or family's needs, a multidisciplinary team approach is essential. The addition of a victim specialist has proved particularly helpful in cases in which victims are reluctant or frightened. Victim specialists can help the victims and/or families deal with their initial fears and concerns, and they can also help by building confidences and renewing cooperation.
- Customize services. The unit contacts victims after reviewing background information on past emotional and physical responses and on whether prior contact with the system was a positive or a negative experience for victims. This information will dictate how contact is made.
- Consider comorbid conditions. Sexual assault survivors are at risk for developing comorbid conditions along with long-term trauma. These conditions frequently include depression, anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and drug and alcohol abuse and dependence. The victim specialist must understand and recognize these symptoms to better assist victims.
- Provide a private location. Privacy is particularly important in the case of a sexual assault. When disclosing new information on any case to the victim and/or family members, the initial meeting should be as discreet as possible because family and friends may not know about the incident.
- Maintain victim contact. The Cold Case Unit maintains ongoing contact with victims. This sends a message that their cases and questions are important. Also, as the case progresses, victims may have a wide variety of issues that must be addressed. These include a loss of their sense of safety and security, as well as reemerging issues of guilt and self-blame that can be intrapersonal (e.g., loss of a sense of personal control, feeling changed, loss of income through an inability to work) or interpersonal (e.g., breakdown in the family structure and feelings of isolation as a result of a loss of social support systems).
Making the Idea a Reality
The Denver protocol took shape after evaluating more than 50 professional journal articles pertaining to cold case investigations, assessing victim services (particularly in the areas of victim and family contact), and interviewing police departments across the Nation. The protocol was developed in conjunction with the Denver District Attorney's office and the Denver Police Department's crime lab.
Additionally, the Colorado Victims Rights Amendment was revised to include cold case investigations as follows:
- A cold case is any felony reported to law enforcement that has remained unsolved for more than 1 year from the date of the initial report to law enforcement and for which the applicable statute of limitations has not expired.
- The identity of the perpetrator is unknown.
- All cold case victims (until the statute of limitations runs out) shall receive information concerning any change in the status of the case. Change of status includes identification of perpetrators or recovery of new evidence.
- Annual case updates are provided to victims, upon their written request, for cases with a statute of limitations of longer than 3 years.
Benefits to Victims
Through the implementation of the Denver Police Department's protocol, victims receive help that is specific to their situation. This includes resources, ongoing contact with the victim specialist, and an information booklet specific to the needs of victims.
In cases in which the DNA evidence does not provide a name in a sexual assault, the prosecutor can file a "John Doe" filing. In Denver, as of 2001, if a case is solved in whole or in part with DNA evidence, there is no longer a statute of limitations as long as the sexual assault was reported within 10 years.
Benefits to Victim Service Professionals
The Cold Case Unit keeps up with technological advances and helps to ensure that evidence collected is analyzed with the latest research in mind.
Lessons Learned
- It is critical to have a cold case victim specialist accompany the detective during first contact with victims.
- The timing of victim contact is crucial. Problems emerge when victims are contacted prematurely. This might occur when (1) law enforcement has not named a suspect; (2) no arrest has been made; or (3) if contact was made without assessing the victim's previous experiences with the system. For example, detectives had a hit on a cold case. They were able to create a DNA profile, but did not have a suspect named. There was a great deal of media involvement in the case and the detective wanted to contact the victim before the information was broadcast. The victim felt resentful that so little progress had been made and would have preferred not to be contacted at all.
- Although the ideal scenario would be for victims to be contacted only when a suspect has been identified and arrested, this is not always possible. In the above example, there was a great deal of media involvement, and it was better for the department to contact the victim with a small amount of information rather than allowing the victim to hear about it on the news.
- The main differences between the needs of victims in a cold case investigation and those in a new investigation are that victim reactions in older cases are often extreme.
- The amount of contact must be dictated by victims. For some it can be weekly and for others, monthly. In some cases, victims would rather initiate contact when they have a question or concern.
- It is critical that victims understand that investigative leads may not provide conclusive results.
Contact Information
Victim Assistance Unit's Cold Case Program
Sarah Chaikin
1331 Cherokee Street
Denver, CO 80204
720–913–6677