At EVAWI, we encourage victim-centered, multi-disciplinary
collaboration which strengthens the criminal justice system as well as the public’s
ability to understand the realistic dynamics of sexual assault. Sexual Assault Response & Resource Teams
(SARRT) or Coordinated Community Response (CCR) teams are critical components
of the overall community response to violence against women.
I remember an issue facing the Kansas City Community a few years
ago. We were dealing with a situation where several young women had either
called the crisis line and/or presented at local Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner
(SANE) programs, all sharing a similar story – they’d been raped by four men in
an apartment type setting above a bar in the downtown area. None of these
victims reported to law enforcement. As my agency provided advocacy at numerous
SANE programs, we, along with the SANE programs, were able to begin putting
pieces together to show an alarming trend. We used a regular SARRT meeting in
our community to talk with law enforcement about these assaults, being careful
not to identify the victims or violate confidentiality.
As advocates, we often have information that other community
professions don’t -- because for a variety of reasons, victims are not
comfortable reporting to law enforcement or going to a SANE program. When we
saw trends forming, we used SARRT meetings to share that information.
In another example, we began to notice similar stories of drug facilitated
sexual assaults originating in the new downtown area in Kansas City, where a
number of restaurants, bars, and clubs are located. At first, everyone figured
it was Kansas City Police Department’s problem because the downtown area is in
their jurisdiction, but the sexual assaults weren’t necessarily being completed
there. In these situations, the initial contact between the victim and suspect
was taking place downtown, but the sexual assault was being perpetrated in the
same type of place they usually are – at the victim’s home, or a friend’s home,
etc. – typically outside the downtown area.
This made it a metro-wide problem, not just a problem for Kansas City
Police Department. We tracked a number of these stories, and shared this information
at the various SARRTs in the metro area so other jurisdictions could be
informed and prepared when victims come forward in their communities.
We found that law enforcement really appreciated this type of
information, especially when we provided it during roll call trainings. They
were tired of hearing about our services and the role of the advocate – they
wanted information that was more immediately relevant to the cases they were
seeing. Sharing this information not only kept law enforcement aware of the
things that weren’t being reported, but also helped show the importance and
relevance of working together as a collaborative team.
We want to hear from you. What issues or projects are your SARRT
or CCR working on right now?
