The Office of Justice Programs’ Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC) recently added two new special focus areas — mass violence and terrorism and vicarious trauma.
Mass violence and terrorism helps victim service providers respond to victims of mass violence. Vicarious trauma trains victim service providers to positively handle trauma in order to avoid secondary traumatization and traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout. In addition to these resources, OVC TTAC offers a variety of tools, resources, and funding opportunities to aid professionals in supporting crime victims.
The nomination period for the Law Enforcement Congressional Badge of Bravery (CBOB) is open now through February 15, 2020. This award honors federal, state, and local law enforcement officers who exhibit extraordinary acts of bravery while in the line of duty.
Federal, state, and local law enforcement risk their lives and exemplify courage while in the line of duty every day. To honor their service, Congress passed the Law Enforcement CBOB Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-298) to create the Federal Law Enforcement CBOB and the State and Local Law Enforcement CBOB.
Nominees must have: (1) sustained a physical injury while engaged in the lawful duties of the individual, (2) performed an act characterized as bravery by the nominating agency head, and (3) have been at personal risk. Or, if they were not injured, the nominee must have performed an act characterized as bravery by the agency head who makes the nomination that placed them at risk of serious physical injury or death.
Agency heads must submit their nominations to the CBOB Office, which is located within the Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance. Agencies must submit all nominations through the online CBOB nomination system.
Questions? Review the CBOB Frequently Asked Questions or reach out to AskCBOB@usdoj.gov.
The Just Science Audio Podcast, sponsored by the National Institute of Justice’s Forensic Technology Center of Excellence (FTCoE), has concluded its most recent podcast season with a series on DNA and forensic investigation—addressing topics such as investigative genetic geology, use of labs, the Golden State Killer case, and more. FTCoE also features various reports and resources about forensic technology.
Catch up on all episodes of the DNA podcast series today!
The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and AEquitas are sponsoring the Effective Strategies to Investigate and Prosecute Labor Trafficking in the United States training in San Antonio, Texas on February 5–7, 2020.
This two-and-a-half-day training, funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, will educate participants on how to identify victims of labor trafficking, as well as share best practices for investigating and prosecuting labor trafficking crimes. Topics will include prevalence and venues of labor trafficking, proactive investigation strategies, trauma-informed interviewing techniques, and more.
This training is offered at no cost, but participants are responsible for their own food, travel, lodging, and incidentals.
The training is only open to law enforcement investigators, prosecutors, and crime analysts. IACP will review all applications to attend the training and notify all applicants prior to the training. You should wait to book any travel or lodging until IACP notifies you that you have been selected as an attendee.
Participants must register for the training by January 24, 2020. Please note, if you have not attended an IACP event before, you must create an account before registering.
For questions, please contact Quauhtli Olivieri at Olivieri@theiacp.org.
For more information, view this event in the TTA Catalog.
The Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, a private nonprofit serving prosecutors as well as their law enforcement and community partners, developed a series of webinars as part of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Capital Litigation Initiative, which seek to improve prosecutors’ approach to capital litigation. You can now watch the first two installments in the series—"The Surviving Victims: Guiding the Families of Homicide Victims Through the Criminal Justice Process” and “Mitigating Mental Health Defenses”—on BJA’s YouTube channel.
Webinar Descriptions
This webinar focuses on how to be the best advocate possible for victims of capital crimes and their families—with an emphasis on building effective, empathetic relationships with these families and guiding them through the judicial process. This presentation includes resources for prosecutors dealing with similar capital litigation cases.
“Mitigating Mental Health Defenses”
This webinar explores various mental health defenses in capital cases and how prosecutors can effectively counter them. A career prosecutor who has been on the front lines of many high-profile cases, First Assistant Ed McCann of the Montgomery County, Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Office provides insights and practical tools to take straight into trial.
Other Installments in the Series
The third installment in the Capital Litigation Initiative series, “Mass Shootings and Victim Considerations” took place December 4 and will be available for viewing on BJA’s YouTube channel in the coming weeks. In addition, the fourth and final webinar, “Victim Counsel Coordination,” will take place on January 10, 2020. Visit the registration webpage for more information on this webinar and instructions on how to register.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys invite you to attend the upcoming “Victim Counsel Coordination” webinar on January 10, 2020 from 3:00–4:00 p.m. ET.
As the final installment in the Association of Prosecuting Attorney’s Capital Litigation Improvement Project webinar series, “Victim Counsel Coordination” will feature Dan Levey and Randy Udelman from the Arizona Crime Victim Rights Law Group as presenters.
Mr. Levey will focus on victims’ experiences in capital litigation cases and Mr. Udelman will outline ways in which victim counsel facilitates the criminal process by interfacing between victim families. In addition, Mr. Udelman will offer a sample start-to-finish hypothetical case based on real facts—illustrating how to effectively meet victim needs in capital case prosecution.
The Serving Safely webinar series is now available on the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) YouTube page. Each webinar features speakers from the Serving Safely: The National Initiative to Enhance Policing for Persons with Mental Illnesses and Developmental Disabilities team, which is a collaborative effort between BJA, the Vera Institute of Justice, and partners in the fields of policing, mental illness, intellectual and developmental disabilities, crisis intervention, peer advocacy, emergency medicine, technology development, and prosecution.
Here’s a brief description of each webinar:
This webinar provides participants with a synopsis of the Serving Safely initiative.
This webinar provides an overview of intellectual and developmental disabilities, prosecutors’ legal obligations when interacting with the disability community, and concrete strategies to effectively serve this population using real-life case scenarios.
“Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities: 10 Facts Law Enforcement Officers Need to Know”
This webinar provides 10 practical tips law enforcement officers can use to effectively serve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Additionally, the webinar presenters share information on how officers can seek further training through the "Pathways to Justice" law enforcement module.
This webinar presents models of mental health crisis response, including crisis intervention teams, mobile crisis, co-responder, and stand-alone mental health response training. It also discusses how research addresses the effectiveness of models for responding to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and directions for future research.
“The Case for Police-Mental Health Collaboration: What Every Law Enforcement Executive Should Know”
This webinar discusses the interactions between people living with mental illnesses and intellectual and developmental disabilities and police. Speakers share real-world experiences in developing Police-Mental Health Collaboration programs, which are comprehensive approaches to these situations and consist of partnerships, policy and practice redesign, training, data collection, and program maintenance.
The Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Program (COAP), sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, is accepting proposals for presentations for its 2020 National Forum. The forum will take place March 10–12, 2020 in Arlington, Virginia. COAP assists state, local, and tribal governments with the means to respond to the opioid epidemic in their communities through policy and practical tools.
Proposals are welcome from the field at-large, as well as from COAP grantees, and must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. ET on December 20, 2019.
View the submission guidelines.
For more information about COAP, please visit the Resource Center.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Washington, D.C. Division has partnered with the National Domestic Communications Assistance Center to host a no-cost training opportunity for active law enforcement officers titled “Exploitation and Monitoring of Social Media for Law Enforcement.” This three-day training course will take place February 4 – 6, 2020, in Sykesville, Maryland at the Maryland Public Safety Education Training Center.
This innovative course is designed to assist all law enforcement investigators who use open source technology and is suitable for beginner and intermediate-level users.
Interested parties must contact the DEA Washington Division Training Coordinator Pat Johnakin at Patrick.I.Johnakin@usdoj.gov for registration information. Upon active law enforcement verification, those accepted will receive registration details via email.
The Office of Justice Programs recently launched an upgraded America’s Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response (AMBER) Alert Website. It features a description of the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Initiative, which was developed to assist tribal communities in integrating their AMBER alert systems with state and regional systems. The updated site also offers new publications, statistics, points of contact, and other valuable resources.
Since its creation in 1996, AMBER Alert has helped to safely recover 967 abducted children.