NCJ Number
181501
Date Published
2000
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video profiles effective models used by three law enforcement agencies, in cooperation with other community agencies, in mounting interventions that can minimize the impact of violence on children and improve case outcomes.
Abstract
The description of Project Shield in Westminster, Calif., shows the actual operations of a program that brings together in regular multidisciplinary meetings representatives from the police, schools, and social service agency to plan and implement a referral network for children whom the police are trained to identify as in need of specialized services due to their exposure to violence. The Project Shield meetings involve not only planning and discussions about project strategies, but also discussions of particular cases and how child/witnesses in those cases can be best served by the various agencies represented. A second program portrayed in the video is the training given police officers in Prince William County (Virginia) regarding how to interact skillfully and sensitively with child victims/witnesses. Actual class sessions are portrayed, interspersed with comments by the instructor regarding her objectives in the training. The third program described is the New Haven Child Development Program (Connecticut), in which mental health clinicians ride with police officers to ascertain the environmental stimuli in which children witness or are victimized by violence. Police, in turn, become acquainted with clinicians' insights into the psychological impact and needs experienced by child victims/witnesses in the aftermath of violence. Under this partnership, children are better served in reducing the negative impact of violence on their development.