Virginia

The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Victim Services Committee supports cooperation and assistance between law enforcement and other crisis intervention providers to improve services and treatment for crime victims. It encourages training for law enforcement officers to raise awareness of, and sensitivity to victims’ issues and will help provide and maintain police-based victim services units. IACP also promotes legislation that increases funding for such training and services.

The IACP, with the support of the Office on Violence Against Women, has developed the Police Response to Violence Against Women Project (PRVAW) and the National Law Enforcement Leadership Initiative on Violence Against Women.

The National Leadership Initiative is designed to increase capacity of law enforcement agencies to effectively respond to violence against women through the creation of a National Law Enforcement Leadership Institute series and a Trainer Development Program. The Leadership Institutes provide law enforcement executives an opportunity to assess their agency’s current response to crimes of violence against women and design strategies to improve their ability to meet the needs of their community. The Trainer Development Program builds core training skills and enhances effectiveness of instructors who educate law enforcement about crimes against women.

The Police Response to Violence Against Women Project focuses on the development of tools, policies and training to assist law enforcement in responding effectively to all Violence Against Women crimes. Work is currently underway on a multifaceted Law Enforcement Program on Sexual Assault to address misperceptions about victims and the nature of the crime itself, and standardize best practices for investigation and evidence management. Under this project, the IACP recently released a training package on the crime of Human Trafficking to include a guidebook and roll-call training video.

The Victims’ Assistance Legal Organization (VALOR) was founded in 1979 as a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the legal rights of crime victims in the civil, criminal, and juvenile justice systems. VALOR has provided leadership on research and reform in the areas of restitution, child abuse, juvenile justice, sentencing, and parole, and has served, since 1995, as the lead grantee for the OVC-funded and sponsored project, the National Victim Assistance Academy.

The National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse is a program of the American Prosecutors Research Institute that was established to improve the investigation and prosecution of child abuse. It focuses on training and expert legal assistance to prosecutors and investigators handling criminal child abuse and sexual exploitation cases.