NCJ Number
90162
Date Published
1980
Length
148 pages
Annotation
In providing guidance to victim services planners and administrators on how to win police support for victim services projects, this manual examines models of police involvement in victim services, initial overtures to the police, and administrative and programmatic issues.
Abstract
The models of police involvement in victim services portrayed are (1) the cooperation model, whereby the victim-service counselors use the information supplied by the police to contact victims to determine any needed services; (2) the collaboration model, which requires the counselors to be available, at the request of police officers, to help victims immediately after a crime report is taken; and (3) the comprehensive model, which combines both the next-day services of the cooperation model with the on-scene services of the collaboration mode. Guidance for making initial overtures to the police about a victim services program includes instruction on how to prepare for a meeting with law enforcement policymakers, tactics to use in meeting with the policymakers, and fall-back strategies, which involve actions to take in the event of police refusal to participate in a victim services program. The later approaches involve influencing officials who can successfully intervene with the police on behalf of a victim services program. The concluding section addresses issues likely to be confronted in the use of each of the three models of police involvement in victim services, as well as how to initiate and sustain a victim services program in its first year. The appendixes contain various papers and reports related to victim services.