Jeffersontown Police Victim Service Specialist Project

The purpose of this award, funded under the OVC FY 2019 Law Enforcement-Based Victim Specialist Program, is to develop or enhance crime victim specialist programs within law enforcement agencies to better support victims through the criminal justice process including connecting them with community-based direct victim services programs to more quickly and more effectively serve them. The Jeffersontown Police Department (JPD) will establish a Law Enforcement-Based Victim Services Specialist (VSS) position to provide better support and advocacy for crime victims in the City of Jeffersontown, Kentucky. JPD will hire and train a Victim Services Specialist to build the program and provide direct victim services to the Jeffersontown community. The Law Enforcement-Based Victim Services Program will develop the first JPD evidence-based, trauma-informed program. Across the 20 plus small municipalities with police services in the Jefferson County, KY area (a consolidated city-county population of 1.34 million), no agencies offer law enforcement-based victim services. This project will address that gap. CA/NCF