Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Produce Training Materials
 In Washington State, the Office of Crime Victims Advocacy (OCVA), recognizes and responds to the needs of crime victims. In 2005, OCVA began coordinating a multi-agency effort funded by the Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies and Enforcement of Protection Orders program, focusing on sexual assault and stalking within the context of domestic violence. BWJP is featuring this initiative as a promising practice in several parts, since it has so many components. This is Part Four in the series.
A member of a statewide coordinated community response team, the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (WASPC) addressed policies, practice, laws, statewide training and other efforts regarding sexual assault and stalking crimes in the context of domestic violence.
 One of the goals of the response team was to adapt and/or develop screening tools to assess for sexual assault and stalking. In order for law enforcement and prosecution to respond more effectively in these cases, WASPC, with input from pilot locations (Mount Vernon Police Department, Clark County and Kitsap County Sheriff’s Offices) and in conjunction with the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs (WCSAP) developed a Manual for Law Enforcement: Stalking and Sexual Assault in the Context of Domestic Violence as a way to provide information and resources to agencies.
Dawn Larsen, Director of Projects, and Teri Herold-Prayer, Research Program Assistant, for the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs, served as authors and developers of the materials in this manual. The hoped-for outcome is that these materials will help local law enforcement across the state in crafting a departmental response and a training component to address the complex issues created when stalking and sexual assault are present in domestic violence cases.
Available Materials:
For more information or materials, please contact Dawn Larsen at dlarsen@waspc.org.
Read Part 1: Washington Crime Victims Advocacy - Sexual Assault
Read Part 2: Skagit County, WA Model Stalking Protocol
Read Part 3: WCSAP |
