2021 monthly check-in ticket January - June for the city of Duluth, MN.
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Lisa sent the following check-in email on 1/5/21:
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.
Have you had a chance to review the development plan? If there are no updates or questions, the copy I sent for review will be the most recent version that we will keep on file. Your site can update the plan at any time as this is a fluid document that will continue to evolve.
Mary responded with the following on 1/19/21:
Dear Lisa,
Apologies for the delay in responding and I hope that this finds you well.
We do not have any needs at this time, and we are still in an adjusted mode due to COVID but we have found ways to be productive. Also, good news -- DPD Personnel including me and Sam were offered our first dose of the COVID vaccine this past weekend. It's a huge relief. We are set up for our follow-up dose in early February.
I also wanted to follow up about the Development Plan. The team had time to review it and at this time, we don't have any edits or additions. But we plan to refer to it more often throughout the year and that way we can bring any updates to you. We are going to add it as an agenda item for our MDT meeting.
Thanks again, and take care,
Lisa sent a monthly check-in email to Duluth.
Mary responded with a request for information regarding if any SAKI sites that do any sort of support groups who survivors impacted by the “backlog” of sexual assault kits. A separate ticket has been opened for this question.
Lisa sent the following check-in email to Mary in Duluth:
Good evening Mary,
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?
Mary responded with the following:
Hi Lisa,
Here are my responses to the questions from the BJA.
What challenges or barriers is your site experiencing preventing ViCAP entry?
Our main barrier has been COVID and our emergency schedule/work from home. We anticipate the elimination of these barriers by the end of March. We also had some turn-over in our investigative staff, and a new investigator will begin next week. We are also in the process of hiring a Crime Analyst who will join our SAKI team. The Analyst has experience using VICAP and will assist with the entries. We also intend to reach out to MN SAKI Project's Chris Johnson (Anoka County Sheriff's Office) for assistance if we run into any issues or questions. At our statewide SAKI MDT meetings, he has mentioned his experience in beginning to enter criteria cases. We expect to begin entering cases by the end of March/beginning of April.
Please confirm the ViCAP representative for your site.
Lt. Dan Chicos
Will your site be planning any Sexual Assault Awareness Month events in April, including but not limited to virtual panels, screenings, or training?
PAVSA, a subawardee, is hosting two virtual panels (1) Myths vs. Facts Discussion and (2) SANE Panel "Ask Me Anything" format. PAVSA is also working with a local marketing company to create an outreach campaign that supports victim-survivors and directs them to a page with information about victims rights, including rights related to the testing of their sexual assault kit and tracking its status.
We may do a citywide Proclamation for SAAM, but it depends on the degree to which COVID transmission continues to decline. Our mayor has been hesitant to do proclamations over the past year to keep the focus on the COVID response and our first responders. We will have a city landmark (Enger Tower) lit teal for the first week of April. We will do a series of Letters to the Editor in the Duluth News Tribune with messages that support victim-survivors and their loved ones. And Chief Tusken will put out a video message supporting victim-survivors and the local partnerships for DPD social media.
Lisa held a monthly check-in call with Duluth. Carey Hendricks from BJA attended the call to introduce herself and was able to answer some questions that Mary had about the serial offender data collection that BJA asked about last month.
Duluth is transitioning into the office again after over a year of working from home and that is going well.
Duluth just hired a crime analyst and will be working with the ViCAP rep for their region.
Duluth will also be presenting at the SAKI TTA Assembly of Cities meeting this month.
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- General information regarding the request for TTA services, i.e., the who, what, where, when, and why.
- The organizational and/or community needs specific to the request for TTA services.
- The benefits or anticipated outcomes from the receipt of TTA services.
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