IACP Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims: Demonstration Project Technical Assistance

In 2003, OVC provided funding to the IACP to develop a national strategy for creating comprehensive cultural transformation within the law enforcement community in the United States, helping to move toward a philosophy and practice of enhanced victim response. IACP developed an Implementation Guide, a Resource Toolkit, and a Training Supplement, releasing the full set of resources in 2009. The final Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims (ELERV) toolkit is a strong set of resources that has the support of the agencies around the country that assisted in developing, pilot testing, and validating the strategy. While the strategy was never evaluated, IACP and OVC are fairly confident it is effective. However, it cannot be marketed as an evidence-based approach because the only evidence of effectiveness is anecdotal information for the limited number of implementing sites. To remedy this, in FY 2014, OVC provided funding to IACP under OVC’s FY 2014 Service, Support & Justice: A Strategy to Enhance Law Enforcement Response to Victims Initiative to evaluate the ELERV Strategy previously funded by OVC. The initiative is comprised of three components: (1) a demonstration project involving three competitively selected medium-sized law enforcement agencies; (2) intensive technical assistance provided by IACP to the sites as the implement ELERV; and (3) a concurrent evaluation conducted through the National Institute of Justice. With FY 2015 funding OVC will continue to support IACP through a noncompetitive grant to continue the progress that has been made in year one of this multi-year initiative. IACP will continue its work from year one and provide intensive technical assistance to the three competitively selected demonstration sites that will implement the ELERV Strategy. It is anticipated that in years three and four, IACP will work to revise the strategy and accompanying toolkit of resources, and develop a detailed strategy to provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies around the country.

NCA/NCF

In 2003, the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) provided funding to the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) to develop a national strategy for creating a comprehensive cultural shift within the law enforcement community in the United States, helping to move toward a philosophy and practice of enhanced victim response. IACP developed an Implementation Guide, Resource Toolkit, and Training Supplement, releasing the full set of resources in 2009. The final Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims (ELERV) toolkit is a strong set of resources that has the support of the agencies around the country that assisted in developing, pilot testing, and validating the strategy. While the strategy was never evaluated, IACP and OVC are fairly confident it is effective. However, it cannot be marketed as an evidence-based approach because the only evidence of effectiveness is anecdotal information for the limited number of implementing sites. To remedy this issue, OVC provided funding to IACP through the FY 2014 Service, Support & Justice: A Strategy to Enhance Law Enforcement Response to Victims Initiative to evaluate ELERV. The initiative is comprised of three components: (1) a demonstration project involving three competitively selected medium-sized law enforcement agencies; (2) intensive technical assistance provided by IACP to the sites as they implement ELERV; and (3) a concurrent evaluation conducted by local research partners paired with each demonstration site.

This additional FY 16 funding will allow IACP to continue to provide intensive technical assistance to the three demonstration sites implementing ELERV. IACP will also work to revise the strategy and accompanying toolkit of resources, and develop a detailed plan to provide technical assistance on ELERV to law enforcement agencies around the country.

nca/ncf

The Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims (ELERV) Strategy was created through an OVC partnership with IACP in 2003. Its goal is to move the law enforcement community toward a philosophy and practice of enhanced victim response. The final Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims (ELERV) toolkit completed in 2009 is a strong set of resources with support from agencies around the country that assisted in developing, pilot testing, and validating the strategy. While the strategy was never evaluated, IACP and OVC are fairly confident it is effective. However, it cannot be marketed as an evidence-based approach because the only evidence of effectiveness is anecdotal information for the limited number of implementing sites. To remedy this issue, OVC provided funding to IACP through the FY 2014 Service, Support & Justice: A Strategy to Enhance Law Enforcement Response to Victims Initiative to evaluate ELERV. The initiative is comprised of three components: (1) a demonstration project involving three competitively selected medium-sized law enforcement agencies; (2) intensive technical assistance provided by IACP to the sites as they implement ELERV; and (3) a concurrent evaluation conducted by local research partners paired with each demonstration site.

This additional FY 17 funding will allow IACP to continue to provide intensive technical assistance to the three demonstration sites implementing ELERV. IACP will also continue to revise the strategy and accompanying toolkit of resources with lessons learned from the demonstration sites, and establish a detailed plan to provide technical assistance on ELERV to law enforcement agencies around the country.
NCA/NCF