2021 monthly check-in ticket January - June for the state of MN.
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Lisa sent the following check-in email to MN DSP:
Happy New Year!
I hope this email finds you well. I am reaching out for our monthly check-in on your progress and to ask if there are any training and technical assistance needs that you have at this time. These check-ins are an effort to facilitate regular communication and ensure that your site is receiving the training and technical assistance you need.
Have you had any recent success stories that you would like to share with BJA or the SAKI TTA team? These could include any specific achievements, goals, milestones, or challenges addressed that you would consider successes under the SAKI project as well as news stories on arrests or convictions.
Suzanne responded with a request for updated language to their website. another ticket has been created for this request.
Jess responded with the following:
Lisa,
Sorry for the delay. We are continuing our testing on Tier 1 cases (the last agency is submitting this week). We are still on track to finish these up by the end of the year/grant.
Tier 2 outreach will be happening this month to get those kits in the door as they are part of our first SAKI grant.
Other than that, not much to report!
Hope you are doing well and staying healthy!
Lisa sent a monthly check-in email and Jess responded with the following:
We started testing on our last tier 1 agency (Rochester) for our first SAKI grant! There are still a few cases being wrapped up in Minneapolis and St. Cloud, but as of right now we are still on track to finish by the end of the year.
For our second SAKI grant; We have had many agencies submit their kits for testing and currently have about 200 in que for testing. The response has been really good, and Jason has been working with the agencies to help them understand what needs to be submitted and why. J
As for OJP; the reporting forms have been updated to make it easier for us to report under the three SAKI grants.
Suzanne told me she has already filled you in on the Anoka Cty civil suit. I don’t have much to say on this, but I will keep you posted as it progresses.
For training – we are planning 2 training/presentation/Q & A sessions via zoom set up in March. This is intended to help share information with any agency who would be involved in working SAKI cases (law enforcement, county attorneys, advocates, etc). We are working on finish up our presentation to get it sent off for approval next week.
That is all I can think of that is going on here.
Hope you are doing well. Talk to you soon,
Lisa sent the following check-in email to MN DPS:
Good afternoon,
I hope this email finds you well. I am reaching out for our monthly check-in on your progress and to ask if there are any training and technical assistance needs that you have at this time. These check-ins are an effort to facilitate regular communication and ensure that your site is receiving the training and technical assistance you need.
Have you had any recent success stories that you would like to share with BJA or the SAKI TTA team? These could include any specific achievements, goals, milestones, or challenges addressed that you would consider successes under the SAKI project, as well as news stories on arrests or convictions.
In addition, BJA has asked us to communicate the following questions:
What challenges or barriers is your site experiencing preventing ViCAP entry?
Please confirm the ViCAP representative for your site.
Will your site be planning any Sexual Assault Awareness Month events in April, including but not limited to virtual panels, screenings, or training?
Jess (Site Coordinator) responded with the following:
Hi Lisa,
Our exciting news is that we hosted a SAKI outreach training session. We had 133 people attend the training (via zoom)!
As far as testing goes; Rochester has submitted all their kits and we are in the process of testing. Minneapolis is done, with the exception of 1 kit that is confusing (looks like we already tested it to the full extent), still waiting to hear back on that case.
The investigator’s protocol is being worked on and is nearing completion.
As far as the ViCAP questions go:
I am the ViCAP representative for MN SAKI.
Challenges to entering cases into ViCAP are that we don’t have that many cases that seem to qualify. It is hard to determine if a case qualifies as I don’t necessarily have eyes on every single case that gets tested. Although the scientist are told to look for certain criteria, it can be hard to ensure that this is being done and the cases are being flagged.
Another barrier is that ViCAP entry seems like it should fall on the shoulders of law enforcement since they have the actual police reports, etc. While this is fine for Anoka (they are entering their own cases), I don’t really see this happening for smaller jurisdictions. Thus, I can see cases that would qualify slipping through the cracks.
Also, to be honest, ViCAP is not user friendly and it takes so long to enter a single case – don’t worry, this wouldn’t stop me from entering them, but it doesn’t make me excited to enter them! ;)
I am unsure of any events in April. I will send an email to Jude/MNCASA and see if they had anything planned that we could piggyback on.
Let me know if you need more info on any of these. Talk to you soon!
Lisa, Carey, and Crystal held a site check-in call with MN DPS (Jess, Suzanne, Jason, Jude, Vanessa and Sam) on April 14th.
Notes below:
Vanessa – minor revisions to the Victim notification protocol will send to RTI as well as a brochure
Suzanne – still getting the FY 20 grant up and running nearing the end of the subgrating process
OJP – own site reviews – assessment of where they are with their budgets – looking at budget adjustments
Sam – working on protocols – investigative guidelines – in the final editing staging, victim survivor notification protocol that are going to be statewide,
Jude – barriers – State of MN is really suffering from the recent issues with shootings – Carey reassured the site that she understands the current situations and that we will help them work through any of these challenges – Chris will not be notifying for 2-3 weeks because everything is on hold
Vanessa notified someone last week and wants to move forward on the 19 YO case – but now it has to be postponed because everything is on hold due to the current circumstances
Doing searching for the 1985 familial DNA case – they are doing internally database – and if they don’t get that they may send it out nationwide
When Jess does the PMT reporting – Carey says it’s to capture all of it – they have an internal meeting where Jessa and Suzanne talk about it
Held monthly check-in call with MN DPS, Lisa, and Crystal. Everything is going well with the site and they are busy testing, notifying, and working on updating their policies and procedures. One clarifying question was needed regarding their inventory, and Lisa reached out to Pattie with this question and will follow up when the answer is received.
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