Assist SD SAKI through the process of creating a statewide victim notification procedure.
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During a call with SD SAKI, we were discussing the delay in their inventory process due to COVID-19. Paige recommended that they start working on their victim notification process as a team.
Paige explained what victim notification was and how the state would be needed to help the local agencies. Paige to provide a set of Toolkit resources,
Paige sent email with lots of resources and explanations.
Paige sent the email that included this text and a collection of resources: I wanted to go ahead and send you some resources around Victim Notification and Engagement. This does not include resources providing direct guidance on victim interviews. It is more preparatory resources that include:
• Example VN Policies (if you want to use one of them as a base, I can send the word document)
• Resources on Designing a VN Protocol
• Resources that could be used to help Law Enforcement, Advocates, and Prosecutors prepare for the act of notifying victims. It seems like it would be just like contacting a victim, but it is considerably more nuanced than that since it’s us bringing this back into the victim’s life. So, even advocates need to prepare.
• Examples of resources that could be printed out and provided to the victim during the notification.
I know your focus is on the inventory, but this is something that can be worked on at the same time with your working group (small or the larger one) to get the conversations going around the key questions. It can be a lengthy process to get everyone on the same page. Including that for a state level protocol, you’ll want to decide if you are writing a policy to be followed, guidance for agencies to develop their own protocol, or an example protocol that could be developed.
As always, I’m happy to chat anytime!
Raina emailed with a question about the timing of when the site should develop a Victim Notification Protocol.
Paige sent the following text: As a State Grantee, it is strongly encouraged that you go ahead and have something ready and even start training local agencies on victim notification. Timing is important that there isn’t a huge lag, but you can make a training beneficial not just for SAKI cases but really teaching victim engagement. In addition, cold case victim notification is not just a SAKI activity, and since you have already done some testing as a state, local agencies might already be notifying victims. So, getting in there to give them the tools so that more damage is not done is pretty critical.
Since you can’t control when a local agency reaches out to a victim, it’s always best to equip them with everything they need to make sure it is a positive experience both for the victim and agency.
Raina sent a PowerPoint presentation that they were pulling together to their larger multi-disciplinary group about victim notification and make sure we are all on the same page, and then, probably with the advocates down the road.
Paige let them know that they couldn't use the SAKI TTA logo and provided some information about creating their own logo if they would like. She also let Raina know that since they have time, Amy Durall could review the PPT if they removed the logos. She also explained the approval process.
Paige emailed Raina:
After thinking more on this, I also wanted to make you aware of how West Virginia SAKI approached their state-level victim notification. They were told by their Prosecuting Council that they were unable to mandate a state level victim notification policy. However, they could provide an example. This has been huge for their state, because the smaller, especially rural areas of West Virginia did not have the capacity of developing a policy on their own. So, they did use the example that was provided at the state level. Their site is like yours in that their Coalition is an equal partner in the project. If you all like the one that Duluth did, I am sure I could get you the actual word document. You don’t have to recreate the wheel!
Here are links to what West Virginia did, which I’m also sure I can get you easier to edit versions:
• WV SAKI Handbook
• WV SAKI Law Enforcement Checklist
• WV SAKI Brochure (I’ve got other examples of these from other states)
• WV SAKI FAQs (created by their Coalition which is called WV FRIS)
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