December 2012 - Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence

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Cambria County’s Sexual Assault Response Team: An Effective Multidisciplinary Approach Written by: Kelly Callihan, District Attorney, Cambria County In June of 2009, Cambria County’s VAWA STOP Task Force formed a Forensic Compliance Planning Committee. In October of 2009, this committee, which included the Cambria County District Attorney’s Office, The Women’s Help Center, Victim Services, Conemaugh Memorial Hospital, and the Johnstown Police Department, applied for VAWA STOP formula funding to develop a countywide Sexual Assault Protocol that would address the forensic compliance mandates of the 2005 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA 2005). The potential funding would include monies for a development director to oversee the project as well as funds for the training of twelve Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE). The Cambria County Forensic Compliance Planning Committee, which would soon evolve into the county’s first Sexual Assault Response Team (SART), was delighted to learn in December of that year that the grant proposal had been awarded. I was sworn in as District Attorney in January 2010 and learned that I would oversee this project and be tasked with hiring a development director to lead our county effort toward compliance. What I did not know at that time, amid the intensity of my transition from an assistant district attorney role to that of DA, is that this project would bridge new bonds within the criminal justice system that would assist me and my office in the investigation and prosecution of all types of cases, not just those involving sexual assault, well into the future. I can say now, in hindsight, that this project is one of my most treasured career accomplishments because it helped me view situations from the standpoint of the victim and see that my concerns as a prosecutor are not always a priority nor mirror the concerns of other agencies within the criminal justice system. The creation of our Cambria County SART team, where open discussion is encouraged and issues are resolved together, truly benefits everyone involved and protects the interests of the victim. I am proud of our county team and the accomplishments we have made throughout the course of this project. In February of 2010, Cambria County launched a fifteen-month long process that would not only address the standards for forensic compliance as mandated by VAWA 2005, but would establish the county’s first SANE/SART program, standardizing across the county both the quality of care for sexual assault victims and the collection of forensic evidence. VAWA 2005 mandates that hospitals provide a medical forensic sexual assault examination without requiring victims to participate in the criminal justice system or cooperate with law enforcement. However, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania leaves the methods of this compliance to the discretion of local jurisdictions. Although numerous reporting methods comply with VAWA mandates, through a careful planning process, our county’s responders decided to provide victims with a method of full Anonymous Reporting. Studies show that few victims report sexual assault to law enforcement immediately. Many victims will first disclose the assault to a victim advocate or medical professional. Often victims are unsure, unwilling
or unable to make an immediate decision about whether or not to participate in the criminal justice system in the traumatic aftermath of an assault. Victim disclosure is usually not a one-time, all-ornothing event, but a process. Any real or perceived pressure put on these victims to report immediately may in fact discourage future or continued involvement in the judicial system. Cambria County’s Anonymous Reporting Protocol provides sexual assault victims with a comprehensive and compassionate medical exam, timely forensic evidence collection, and strict standards for chain of custody and storage, while still safeguarding complete anonymity for victims who choose not to contact law enforcement or choose to delay contacting law enforcement. Cambria County SART wanted to create a protocol with the objective of promoting better and more victim-centered care, and effective evidence collection, in order to increase reporting and ultimately hold more offenders accountable. The process of developing an authentic collaborative protocol is hard work and unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all model policy that can simply be cut and pasted to fit into a county’s existing protocol. Early on, our team realized that an authentic multidisciplinary team approach could not involve simply assigning a single individual the task of producing a document that would be sent out for comments and revisions. It would have to involve a series of long-term conversations and decisions informed and guided at every step by the specialized knowledge and expertise of each response agency. Despite the challenges that are sometimes associated with multidisciplinary collaboration, victims are better served if all disciplines have an opportunity to have input into the written policies. It simply isn’t possible for one agency to meet all of these challenges alone. In developing Cambria County’s Sexual Assault Response and Anonymous Reporting Protocol, the Cambria County SART relied on an eight-step method. 1) Inventory and evaluate existing services available to victims. 2) Determine community needs based on that evaluation. 3) Draft a victim experience survey that will be used for future annual evaluations. 4) Launch the team writing of the new protocol. 5) Distribute the new protocol to all SART agencies, County 911 operators, Emergency Paramedics, mental health agencies, university health professionals, judges, magistrates, assistant district attorneys, social service agencies, and every law enforcement agency in the county for review and comment before final adoption by SART. 6) Adopt protocol and renew agency commitments. 7) Train all first responders and the wider community on the new protocol. 8) Establish SANE/SART criteria for Case Review and develop monitoring procedures, which include continuously completing the above eight steps.
Page 1 and 2: Introduction to the Violence Agains
Page 3: Evidence-Based Prosecution Victims
Page 7 and 8: In our first year, our county’s v

December 2012 - Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence

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