Goals and Objectives
The goal of this Law Enforcement and Victim Service Provider (VSP) Collaboration Project is to help create a cooperative environment where law enforcement and victim service providers work hand-in-hand to ensure the holistic well-being of victims and survivors while also supporting the goals of the criminal legal process.
Materials and workshops will focus on the following objectives:
- Cross-Partner Education: Increase law enforcement and VSP knowledge about each other to help dispel myths and misunderstandings.
- Improving Communication: Facilitate better communication and coordination between law enforcement officers and VSPs to ensure that both groups are aware of the victim’s needs and rights throughout the criminal legal process.
- Increasing Accountability: Ensure that both law enforcement and VSPs are held accountable for providing the highest level of care and services to victims in a timely and respectful manner.
- Building Trust: Strengthen trust between law enforcement and victims by showing that law enforcement cares about the victim’s well-being, and by reducing victims’ fear or reluctance to engage with police due to trauma or mistrust.
- Trauma-Informed Responses: Understand trauma and vicarious trauma in order to promote the use of trauma-informed approaches in all interactions.
- Enhancing Victim Support: Ensure that victims of crime receive comprehensive services, including emotional, legal, medical, and financial support, by bridging the gap between law enforcement and victim service agencies.
- Enhancing Case Outcomes: Improve the quality of investigations and prosecutions by providing victims with the support they need to fully participate in the justice process, which can lead to more successful case resolutions.
Law Enforcement and Victim Service Provider Collaboration Workshop Topics
All workshops will be eligible for 1.5 continuing education units (CEUs) or in-service hours.
Topic: Victimization of Victims: Why They May Not Want to Engage
Date: 3/25/2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 AM (Eastern)
Audience: Law Enforcement
When officers arrive at a call for help, sometimes the person identified as the victim is very reluctant to speak with law enforcement. Rather than taking it personally and feeling offended, it is important to identify what outside factors may be interfering with an investigation. This workshop will identify common barriers to law enforcement engagement that exist for victims and how they might be overcome by law enforcement officers. Understanding these barriers can lead to smoother investigations and a higher rate of reporting overall.
Topic: Understanding the Organizational Structure and Culture of Law Enforcement
Date: 4/28/2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 AM (Eastern)
Audience: Service Providers
Brown, blue, or green – these uniform colors can help you to identify what type of law enforcement agency you are interacting with. Law enforcement agencies are deeply rooted in tradition, and their members operate within a framework of established policies and procedures. This session will provide victim service providers with an overview of the various law enforcement agencies within our state, their ranks and command structure, what types of training they receive, and their required annual continuing education hours. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of the presenters who both are retired from different law enforcement agencies in the state.
Topic: Why Language and Mindset Matters
Date: 5/27/2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 AM (Eastern)
Audience: Law Enforcement and Service Providers
Each profession typically has its own specialized language, including jargon, signals, codes, and acronyms. The words we choose, our non-verbal communication, and our perceptions of a situation may help or hinder our ability to improve trust and provide support for those we are serving. This session will provide participants with an understanding of why certain terminology is used by professionals and why the change in vernacular, as well as how your personal biases, can harm your ability to work effectively with those we serve.
Topic: Learning to Collaborate with Law Enforcement to Benefit the Survivor
Date: 6/18/2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 AM (Eastern)
Audience: Service Providers
This workshop is designed to equip victim service providers with the skills and tools necessary for effective collaboration with law enforcement agencies. Participants will learn strategies to foster cooperation with law enforcement and the skill-set needed to engage them. Key components of the workshop will include an overview of law enforcement leadership structures, protocols, procedures, and communication styles. Utilization of case studies and hands-on exercises of how law enforcement implement their duties will be demonstrated. This training will enable service providers to enhance their ability to deliver trauma-informed care in partnership with law enforcement, ultimately benefiting survivors through coordinated support from both entities.
Topic: What Sank the Titanic: The Iceberg You Could See or the Iceberg You Couldn’t?
Date: 7/16/2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 AM (Eastern)
Audience: Law Enforcement and Service Providers
There are inherent complexities in working with survivors that both law enforcement and service providers must address. This workshop will enable both entities to competently work with survivors and will provide insight into what the core competencies are. Additionally, the workshop will highlight potential challenges, referred to as “icebergs,” that must be recognized to empower survivors. Participants will experience non-judgemental and compassionate communication, practicing a strengths-based, trauma informed, and survivor centered approach.
Topic: Why Is Partnership Important? Learning How the Values and Strengths of Each Organization Are Necessary
Date: 8/26/2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 AM (Eastern)
Audience: Law Enforcement and Service Providers
Good partnerships between law enforcement and victim service providers bring immense value to the table and help serve victims better. Establishing positive partnerships is vital, and this workshop will examine the complexities and provide working solutions for each entity. We will also emphasize the unique contributions of each partner. Some of the illustrations demonstrated during the workshop will be the following: limited funding and overburdened staff, misunderstanding of roles and responsibilities, balancing confidentiality and privilege with information sharing, and competing priorities between investigation and victim needs. Participants will learn solutions drawn from interactive discussions.
Meet your trainers
Dottie Davis
Dottie Davis is a nationally recognized speaker who previously served 32 years with the Fort Wayne Police Department where she attained the rank of Deputy Chief and was last assigned as the Director of Training at their police academy. She implemented and wrote policy for the agency for the Crisis Intervention Team and for the Lethality Assessment Program and served as a hostage negotiator for 7 years. During her career she received two Meritorious Service Citations, named law enforcement officer of the year by the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient from the Rocky Mountain Women in Law Enforcement. She is a contracted trainer for the International Association of Chiefs of Police, CIT International, Fair and Impartial Policing, the Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Consortium, and the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Davis is a graduate of the National FBI Academy, Gavin de Becker & Associates Advanced Threat Assessment Academy, and Purdue University, and is the owner of Davis Corporate Training, Inc., a private consulting firm focusing on violence prevention, and provides expert witness testimony in both civil and criminal cases.
Darlene Bradley
Darlene Bradley is a former Special Agent that was assigned to the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, Indianapolis, IN office. While employed for the government, she conducted criminal and administrative investigations involving both Customs and Immigration violations. The investigations ranged from protection of the nation’s commerce, smuggling, money laundering, export enforcement, international terrorism to immigration issues. Bradley was also one of the founding members of IPATH (Indiana Protection Against Trafficked and Abused Humans); which is the combination of federal, state, local law enforcement and service providers to assist with all aspects of human trafficking. While employed with DHS/HSI, Ms. Bradley successfully investigated and assisted with several federal and state prosecutions of known high-profile sex traffickers within the state of Indiana. Also, part of Ms. Bradley’s duties and responsibilities she assisted with the victim’s services of domestic and foreign national individuals.
Funding Support
This project has been made possible by one or more of the following federal grants: Office for Victims of Crime, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice Grant Nos. 15POVC-22-GG-00743-ASSI and 15POVC-23-GG-00420-ASSI ; Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice Grant No. 15JOVW-24-GG-00940-MUMU; 15JOVW-23-GG-00573-STOP and 15JOVW-24-GG-00590-STOP; Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Grant No. 1 NVF1CE002313-01-00.
The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication/program/exhibition are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of Justice, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
