Investigating and responding to sexual assault crimes is a priority for law enforcement and the IACP has tools to help agencies as they continue to evaluate and examine their response to sexual assault crimes. We encourage you to use resources from the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) to think about ways in which your agency can enhance its support of survivors of sexual assault crimes and its ability to hold offenders accountable. One aspect of supporting survivors is ensuring that the law enforcement agency they report to has accessible trauma-informed and victim-centered options so they can safely report sexual assault crimes. An agency that has implemented the principles of a trauma-informed response recognizes the impact of trauma on victim behavior and carries out policies accordingly, such as, waiting at least one sleep cycle to interview a victim.  

The IACP has many resources and training materials available to assist you and your agency in assessing whether you provide a trauma-informed, victim-centered response to these crimes and to help you implement promising response practices. As a first step, we encourage you to start the process of assessing your agency response and begin implementing promising practices, if you have not already done so, using resources from the following IACP projects:

• Online VAW Resource Library – tools, resources, and policies to support law enforcement in responding effectively to sexual assault as well as co-occurring crimes such as domestic violence, stalking, and strangulation.
• Trauma Informed Sexual Assault Investigation Training – webinars and training to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement to provide effective response to victims of sexual assault while holding offenders accountable by providing information on the neurobiological impact of trauma, and offender-focused investigative strategies.
• Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims (ELERV) –toolkit to assist law enforcement agencies in implementing an organizational strategy that enhances their agency-wide response to victims of crime.
• Law Enforcement’s Role in Victim Compensation – roll-call training videos and other resources regarding law enforcement’s role in supporting access to victim compensation.

Implementing a trauma-informed, victim-centered response is an ongoing process. However, while this is ongoing, you can still demonstrate to survivors that your agency is supportive of victims and that their report will be taken seriously. We strongly encourage your agency to post clear information on sexual assault reporting and victim support resources on the agency’s website in an easily accessible location. Doing this will reinforce the message to website visitors that your agency is supportive of survivors and may increase their comfort level with reporting. Information on the website should include options for reporting sexual assault crimes, the agency’s policies on sexual assault, and resources for survivors. This simplifies the process for survivors by giving them clear steps to take when reporting and additionally ensures that they are aware of resources to turn to for support throughout the process.

The above agency strategies can make victims more comfortable in coming forward to report and share information with law enforcement, which will enhance the investigation of sexual assault crimes. It also sends a clear message to offenders that these crimes will be taken seriously and that they will be held accountable.

For further information regarding the IACP’s resources, contact the Victim Services team, at [email protected] or 1-800-THE-IACP.