U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office for Victims of Crime

MA R C H 2001

The Austin Police Department’sVictim Services Division is among arelatively small number of victim as-

sistance divisions that work within lawenforcement agencies. Being part of a lawenforcement agency allows Divisioncounselors to quickly respond to victims’needs, meet officers at a crime scene, andprovide victims with a mix of immediatecrisis counseling and practical advice.Until recently, victim services divisionswithin law enforcement agencies wererelatively rare. Most victim services pro-grams were located at nonprofit agenciesor within prosecutors’ offices, althoughonly 21 percent of major crimes get tothe prosecutor’s office. This means thatabout 80 percent of crime victims maynot have victim assistance available tothem unless a unit exists within a policedepartment, according to Chief StanKnee of the Austin Police Department.“Our Victim Services people arrive min-utes after the officer gets there, as theparamedic is wiping the blood off theforehead of a badly battered spouse,”

Chief Knee said. “They get a better per-spective of the victim than from justreading a police report.” The programinitiates crisis counseling during or short-ly after a crime has occurred, rather thanweeks or months later. The Victim Serv-ices Division provides crisis and traumacounseling to victims, families, witnesses,and others, and assistance to patrol offi-cers and investigators on cases.

Establishing a victim services programwithin a law enforcement agency makessense for several reasons, advocates say. Ifvictims receive support from victim serv-ices counselors, they may be more likelyto report a crime or cooperate in an in-vestigation. That support is an added toolfor law enforcement agencies to increasetheir conviction rates. Victim serviceswork complements community policing,which emphasizes establishing relation-ships with members of a neighborhood.Having a victim services counselor onthe scene can free up officer time; thecounselor can talk with a victim whilethe officer goes back into service. Also,the counselor can act as a liaison for a

About ThisBulletin

Law enforcement sees more victimsof crime than any other component ofthe criminal justice system. Most victimassistance is provided through prosecu-tors’ offices, but only 21 percent ofmajor crimes get to the prosecutor’soffice.This means that about 80 percentof crime victims may not have victim as-sistance available to them unless a vic-tim assistance specialist or unit existswithin the law enforcement agency.

The new OVC handbook titled FirstResponse to Victims of Crime states that“how law enforcement first respondsto victims is critical in determining howvictims cope, first with the immediatecrisis and, later, with their recoveryfrom the crime.” This response often influences the victim’s participation inthe investigation and prosecution of thecrime as well as the victim’s likelihoodof reporting any future crimes.

Recognizing this critical role, law en-forcement leaders are integrating vic-timization issues into their training forline officers and incorporating a strongvictim assistance component into theiragencies. Using the Austin experience,this bulletin describes the benefits toboth victims and law enforcement forhaving victim assistance staff incorporat-ed within law enforcement. Relevant to

Continued on page 2

Establishing Victim ServicesWithin a Law EnforcementAgency: The Austin Experience

by Susan G. Parker

Cinda. A short time after Tom called 911,responding officers discovered the bodies ofhis girlfriend, Cinda Rae Barz, her 9-year-old daughter, Staci Mitchell, and Cinda’sroommate, Frances Michelle Fulwiller.Cinda’s 9-year-old daughter had been stran-gled, and the two women had been bludg-eoned to death. Both women worked asjuvenile probation officers and were wellknown in their community. As a matter ofprocedure, the officers did not give Tom thedetails of what they had seen; however, Tomknew that something was terribly wrong.The officers took Tom to the police stationand interviewed him.

The two young women and the little girl hadbeen killed and had left behind grieving fami-ly members, coworkers, and classmates. Thedifficult task of notifying relatives, friends,and neighbors about the deaths and of help-ing the survivors with their grief fell to theVictim Services Division, which has beenpart of the Austin (Texas) Police Depart-ment for 20 years.

Crisis Response Unit

The primary goal of the CrisisResponse Unit (herein referred to as“Crisis Unit”) is to provide on-the-scenecrisis intervention for victims of crimeand other trauma and to refer those indi-viduals to the Victim Services Division’sother units or outside social service agen-cies for followup services. The AustinCrisis Unit, which operates 24 hours aday, 7 days a week in 8-hour shifts, canrespond to all calls of victims, includingvictims of sexual assault, robbery, assault,suicide attempts or threats, family vio-lence and domestic disturbances, andchild abuse and neglect, as well as sur-vivors of homicide victims.

The Austin Crisis Unit teams are equippedwith an unmarked car, a police radio, a“handi-talkie,” and a Mobile Data Term-inal, which is a computer network that

Victim ServicesDivision

In its 20 years of existence, the Austinprogram has grown to include 35 full-or part-time staff and 300 volunteers.

The Victim Services Division sees about14,000 victims or witnesses a year withan average of two contacts per victim, ac-cording to Ann Hutchison, founder andformer director of the Austin program.The Division has four units:

■ Crisis Response Unit.

■ Major Crimes Unit.

■ Child and Family ViolenceProtection Unit.

■ District Representative Unit.

In addition, an intake specialist takescare of walk-ins and cases that do notfit neatly into the four units mentionedabove. The Victim Services Division alsohouses ALERT (Austin’s Linking of Emer-gency Response Teams), a mass disastercritical response team set up to respondto incidents with multiple casualties.ALERT often receives calls from othercities, states, or national agencies to sendstaff and volunteers to help cities experi-encing a crisis such as a school shooting.Using the following actual homicide case,each unit is discussed to exemplify howit functions within a law enforcementagency.

Around 2 a.m. on September 11, 1998, afrantic maintenance worker, Tom, called theAustin (Texas) Police Department. He toldthem that for several hours, he had not beenable to reach his girlfriend by phone or pager.When he got off work, he drove to her house.Finding his girlfriend’s car parked outside, heknocked on the door but received no answer.He told the police that this was not normal.He was always able to get in touch with

child if a parent is being arrested and offi-cers need to move to the next call. A lawenforcement agency is also a naturalentry point for victims to see advocates/counselors after they have been victimized.

The number of programs located in po-lice and sheriff’s departments is a smallbut growing part of victim services assis-tance in the United States. In 1999,Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) programsawarded victim assistance grants to only209 law enforcement agencies out of18,000 nationwide. In comparison, 428prosecutors’ offices received VOCA vic-tim assistance grants in 1998 out of 2,500nationwide. Still, the number of law en-forcement agencies receiving VOCAgrants has increased from 113 in 1997.

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About This BulletinContinued from page 1

both police and sheriff’s departments,this bulletin uses an actual case handledby the Austin (Texas) Police Depart-ment to illustrate how victim assistancestaff function on the law enforcementteam. It also recounts how Austin wentabout establishing and funding its firstfull-time victim assistance coordinatorposition, and how victim services grewfrom a one-person operation to its pres-ent four-unit Victim Services Division.

OVC recognizes that the majority oflaw enforcement agencies are muchsmaller than Austin’s police department.We also recognize that most law en-forcement agencies cannot financiallysupport nor do they need a victim as-sistance division the size of Austin’s.However, we feel that the informationin this bulletin will be helpful to law en-forcement agencies, regardless of size,that are interested in establishing a vic-tim assistance component within theiragencies as a way to improve their responses to victims.

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ESTABLISHING VICTIM SERVICES WITHIN A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: THE AUSTIN EXPERIENCE

allows officers to communicate with eachother through typed messages. Each teamconsists of a team leader (usually an em-ployee of the Victim Services Division,although there are about 16 volunteerswho are also trained as team leaders) anda community volunteer. Each team is as-signed to a sector of the city. Between 7p.m. and 2 a.m., six teams work through-out Austin. When a team arrives at ascene, they ask the officer in charge whathe or she needs them to do. That mightmean stabilizing the victim, doing an as-sessment, providing crisis intervention,and referring the victim to other services.A crisis team can spend anywhere from30 minutes to 10 hours with a victim, de-pending on the case.

On the night of the triple homicide,Gary Makelki, a licensed professionalcounselor and Crisis Unit team coun-selor, was called by Austin officers tocome and talk to Tom, the person whocalled the police and was the boyfriendof victim Cinda Rae Barz. Makelki notedthat Tom was in shock—very worried,upset, frustrated, and angry. “He wantedto know what [was] going on at the scene.He was very, very angry and pacing. Hewas crying and then hitting the wall. Hewanted to call his mother. He was notgetting any information.” Although Tomfelt entitled to more information, policyrequired that officers keep most of the in-formation confidential until the killer orkillers were found.

To calm Tom down, Makelki explainedto him the police procedures and whythe police were asking him so many ques-tions. Makelki stayed with him and,through listening and reframing, helpedhim with his perceptions of responsibilityand guilt. Makelki talked with Tom to assess whether he was suicidal. Afterabout 5 hours at the Austin Police Depart-ment, investigators released him. Tom

had brought along a friend who Makelkialso spent time talking with.

Makelki provided several importantCrisis Unit functions to Tom. He madesure that Tom was not alone while de-tained at the police station for question-ing. He reassured Tom that someonewould be in touch with him the next daywith resources and information about thecase. Makelki also helped Tom calm downwith exercises like breathing and internaldialogue. He also warned Tom that hemight have other potential reactions in-cluding self-blame—that he should havegotten to his girlfriend’s house earlier.Makelki said, “Sometimes when you edu-cate victims in advance about potentialthoughts and reactions that they mightexperience, it can normalize the reactionswhen they do come, which improves avictim’s ability to cope.”

Major Crimes Unit

The following day, Dolores Litton, a li-censed psychologist and homicide coun-selor in the Austin homicide unit, followedup on Makelki’s promise, checking inwith Tom on how he was coping and giv-ing him updated information on the in-vestigation. The Major Crimes Unit hascounselors in the homicide, robbery, sexcrimes, and traffic fatality units of the de-partment. The Unit’s primary goal is toprovide counseling, advocacy, informa-tion, and referral to all victims, witnesses,and survivors of crime. These counselorsprovide followup services to cases thatthe Crisis Unit team has responded tothe night before. They also assist victimswho have not been seen by a Crisis Unitteam. Counselors in the Major CrimesUnit work closely with detectives in re-laying information to victims about acase, explaining procedures, and helpingwith details like funeral planning. Thecounselors can also get expedited approvalfor state crime victims’ compensation to

help victims pay for sudden expenses likefunerals or cleanup services when a vio-lent crime has taken place in their home.Counselors can assist when a detective’squestioning might make a victim dis-traught and unable to continue the in-quiry. The Major Crimes Unit work takesplace over a longer period of time thanthat of the Crisis Unit. Counselors con-tact victims at least four times after theinitial contact. In unsolved cases, coun-selors may stay in touch with victimsonce a month for years.

When Litton received the call about thetriple homicide, she began working on oneof the most time-consuming cases of hercareer. Litton accompanied a detective tothe home of Frances Fulwiller’s mother,who lived in the same neighborhood asher daughter. Litton had the difficult jobof notifying the mother about her daugh-ter’s death and of preparing the way forthe detective to request a positive identi-fication of the daughter. Litton recalledthe mother’s initial response to the news:“This is a bad joke. Get out of my house.”

After the detective asked the motherquestions for his investigation, Littonstayed behind to offer support and com-fort. The mother, who was a grief coun-selor, told Litton that her husband haddied just a year earlier. She owned thehouse where her daughter lived. Littonalso helped shield the mother from re-porters who were soon camped outsideher house.

Litton then began notifying the family ofthe two other victims (Cinda Rae Barzand her daughter). Some time that after-noon, a detective in the victim’s housefound an Iowa address that turned outto be where the woman’s parents lived.Litton enlisted the assistance of local lawenforcement agencies in Iowa to ensurethat Cinda’s parents were told of theirdaughter’s and granddaughter’s deaths.

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Later, the family called Litton. “Whenthey called me, they couldn’t even talk,”Litton said. “They finally said, ‘Is thistrue?’ I said, ‘Unfortunately, yes, this istrue. This is what the detectives know.’ Itold them the little things that we knew,that they were killed in the house andthat officers were looking for the boyfriendof the other victim, who was a suspect.”

The following day, Litton met withFrances’ mother to assist her in contact-ing the funeral home and medical exam-iner. She also assisted in filling out crimevictim compensation forms for funeralexpenses and costs related to cleaningthe house where her daughter had beenkilled. Litton also helped Frances’ motherlook for one of her daughter’s cats thatwas missing after the killings. While themissing cat never returned, the motherlocated the other cat, which was still inthe house. Litton also assisted Cinda’s ex-husband, who could not afford to travelto Iowa for the funeral of his ex-wife anddaughter. Litton helped arrange a viewingof the bodies in Austin.

In the months following the killings,Litton stayed in close touch with the vic-tims’ families, giving them updated infor-mation before it appeared in the media. Aday after the killings, an arrest was made.The suspect was a friend of Frances’. Hekilled her, and then he waited for Staciand Cinda to return home and killedthem.

Litton also frequently talked with Cinda’ssister-in-law, who had children who wereclose to Staci. They were having a diffi-cult time in school and had been de-pressed since Staci’s killing. Litton toldthe mother not to be afraid to talk toher children about Staci’s death, to be ashonest as possible with them, and to getthem into counseling.

At one point, Litton mediated a conflictbetween the two families. Frances’ moth-er, who owned the house where the vic-tims had lived, wanted to sell it but thefamily in Iowa had not yet come toAustin to collect Cinda’s belongings.Litton encouraged the family in Iowa topick up their daughter’s things quickly.When they came, she helped them fillout a victim’s compensation form and putthem in touch with a support group forparents of murdered children in Iowa.

The needs of the families and friends ofthe victims resulting from this crime weretremendous, Litton said. “All of themwanted information. All of them wereobviously very emotionally affected byit.” The detectives would have experi-enced great difficulty with this case hadVictim Services not been involved.

Child and Family ViolenceProtection Unit

The little girl who was killed, StaciMitchell, had recently moved to a newschool. The day after the murders, VictimServices counselors from the Child andFamily Violence Protection Unit wentto Staci’s old school to talk with herclassmates before they heard about thenews on television. Staci’s cousin also at-tended the school and was well knownby her classmates. The Child and FamilyViolence Protection Unit provides familycounseling, school counseling, and out-reach services to children and families inviolent homes and to children exposed toany violence. The Unit’s goal is to createa centralized team consisting of investiga-tors, attorneys, and counselors to providecomprehensive services in domestic vio-lence cases. Counselors primarily workwith cases in which no arrests have beenmade, such as a suspected batterer fleeingthe scene. They assist victims of familyviolence in obtaining protective ordersand with other legal matters. Counselors

also provide short- and long-term traumacounseling to victims of family violenceand their children and help with safetyplanning. The counselors are the firstpoint of contact when a victim calls orcomes to this Unit. Referrals to Safeplace(a battered women’s shelter and rape cri-sis center) and other trauma counselingservices are a normal part of the Unit’sservices.

The Unit also provides counseling, advo-cacy, information, and referral for allchild victims. The Unit is housed withinvestigators assigned to crimes againstchildren and works closely with coun-selors from the Austin Children’s Advo-cacy Center and Child ProtectiveServices caseworkers. Counselors conductvideotaped interviews in documentingtestimony of child victims. In addition,counselors assess victim and family needs,and provide short-term counseling andreferrals to other social service agencies.Counselors prepare victims for court andact as a liaison between the court andvictims.

Because the Unit works with school chil-dren, counselors from the Unit receivedthe call to counsel Staci’s classmates themorning after the killings. The schoolwanted to notify Staci’s classmates beforethe news of the murders was reported sothat the children would hear about it“in a softer and gentler way,” said ConnieGeerhart, a licensed social worker in theChild and Family Violence ProtectionUnit.

Geerhart, along with some coworkers,went to Staci’s former school, where chil-dren knew her best, and spoke to theschool counselors. Geerhart spoke to aclass of fourth graders that had some chil-dren who knew Staci quite well. Geerhartintroduced herself and asked how manychildren remembered Staci. She said thatshe was there to tell them that Staci and

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ESTABLISHING VICTIM SERVICES WITHIN A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: THE AUSTIN EXPERIENCE

her mother had been killed. She stoppedtalking, and the children immediatelybegan asking questions. How was shekilled? Does her father know? How abouther cousin?

“One little boy started crying. He wasjust so sad. Then another little boy puthis arm on this boy’s back.” Geerhart saidthat there was great respect in that class-room for people’s emotions. Geerhart wascareful to use concrete language aboutthe deaths with the children. She said,“A lot of people use euphemisms like‘she passed away,’ or ‘she went to sleep,’which is not a good thing. Saying thatsomeone has gone to sleep can make kidsafraid of going to bed.”

The counselors helped school officialswrite a letter about the killings for thechildren to take home to their parents.Geerhart encouraged the children to talkwith their parents or to determine a planto care for themselves if their parentswere not home or they were not comfort-able talking to their parents. One girlsaid that she could talk to her older sister.After talking to the class, Geerhart sawthat three students were very upset aboutthe news of Staci’s death. She pulledthem out of class so that they could talkfurther with another counselor.

“When I talked with them briefly outsideof the classroom, they were very support-ive of each other,” Geerhart said. “Theywere hugging each other, and when theywent off to see the other counselor, theyheld on to each other, sobbing and cry-ing. They talked about specific memoriesof Staci and said what a sweet girl shewas.” Talking to Staci’s classmates was animportant part of their healing process,Geerhart believes.

With easy access to television, it waslikely that the children were going to

find out about the murders. Geerhartstated that it was so much better for themto receive the information from a coun-selor first. She said, “For one thing itshows a lot of respect for kids that theirfeelings are important. It honors themrather than [pushes] them aside.”

District Representative Unit

As the reaction of Staci’s classmates illustrates, a murder affects many morepeople than victims and their families.The Austin Victim Services Division established the District RepresentativeUnit to address community needs. Theidea behind the Unit is that if a crimeoccurs in a neighborhood, the residentsof that neighborhood are also victims andmay need assistance in coping. In everycrime, in fact, there is a ripple effect. Forexample, someone who sings in a churchchoir with a member who is raped mayfind herself suddenly depressed or anx-ious. The same feelings can arise in acoworker or the babysitter or the familytwo houses down the street. The DistrictRepresentative Unit casts a wide net intrying to identify these other victims toprovide them services. The Unit teamworks closely with law enforcement offi-cers (assigned as district representatives)who work routinely with the community.The counselors bring their problem-solving and mediating skills to delicatesituations and help police assess theneeds of the community. The officerscan provide safety and reassurance tocounselors and crime victims in volatilesituations. Through the counselors’ follow-up and intervention, they hope to reducefurther calls to the police department andto solve the problems that led to law en-forcement involvement in the first place.The counselors also do networking, out-reach with neighborhoods, and collabo-rating with other social service agencies.

On the night that Cinda, Frances, andStaci were murdered, several neighborsheard and saw the police cars outside thevictims’ house. TV crews soon swarmedthe area. Residents of the middle-classneighborhood were worried. At first, itwas unclear whether the killer was astranger preying on the neighborhood orsomeone the victims knew. “All of a sud-den, we had people calling trying to findout, was this a random act or was it aknown assailant?” said Joel Atkinson, alicensed social worker and supervisor ofthe District Representative Unit. “Peoplein the neighborhood look down theirstreet, which is usually a calm streetwhere kids ride their bicycles, and theysee 20 police cars and crime scene tape.”

Atkinson and his colleagues started con-tacting neighbors. Early that morning,they spoke to the immediate neighborswho had heard the commotion of theambulances, fire department, and police.The counselors told the residents that anincident happened resulting in a deathand that the Unit would get more infor-mation to the neighbors as soon as possi-ble. The 911 operators started gettingcalls from neighbors around the block,and the counselors decided they neededto broaden their outreach. In the nextfew days, counselors and volunteersworked a 14-block surrounding area,going to each house with a prepared re-lease from the Austin Police Department.By this time, a suspect, whom one of thevictims knew, had been arrested. Neigh-bors no longer had to worry about astranger terrorizing the area where theylived, but many were still affected.

The counselors from the District Repre-sentative Unit held a community supportmeeting at a nearby church and at aschool for anyone needing more inten-sive, individual work with a counselor.They held at least one community support

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group each month for 3 months followingthe killings. “Some people went for infor-mation, but as you talked about it, youcould tell that people were still hurting,grieving, and in shock,” Atkinson said.“We would talk to some of them individ-ually and then, if needed, refer them formore help.” The Unit supports the beliefthat if those affected by a crime are coun-seled soon after the crime is committed,then healing can happen more quickly.Atkinson said that providing servicesquickly definitely reduces long-term psy-chological stress and anxiety.

The counselors also held counseling ses-sions for the women’s coworkers, whowere in shock over the murders. Workerswere told that they might not be ableto concentrate at work for some time.Within a few days, several workers saidthey felt nauseated, which, according toAtkinson, most likely stemmed fromtheir feelings of anger, grief, and loss.Coworkers’ anger was sometimes directedat the counselors because they felt insideinformation about the case should begiven to them since they were part oflaw enforcement.

Initial Considerations

Initial issues to consider when estab-lishing a victim services program with-in a law enforcement agency include

defining the victim assistance program byidentifying its goals, addressing fundingpossibilities, and stressing the importanceof supporting a full-time victim assistancecoordinator position.

Defining the Victim AssistanceProgram

Hutchison determined that the AustinVictim Assistance Program had two setsof customers: the victims and families,and the officers themselves. The first step

in developing the program was to definethe program by identifying the program’sgoals within the law enforcement agency.The overall goal of the Austin programwas “to minimize the adverse emotionaland psychological stresses resulting frombeing the victim/survivor of crime ortrauma which included the victim’s fami-ly, witnesses, neighborhood, and publicsafety responders within 24 hours.”According to background informationon the program, addressing these needswill facilitate the victim’s, witnesses’, andneighborhood’s willingness and ability tocooperate with the criminal justice sys-tem in the investigation and prosecutionof the crimes.

Funding

Once a program has defined its goals,the next step is to find funding. Amongthe possibilities are grants from sourceslike the state Victims of Crime Act(VOCA) program or the state ViolenceAgainst Women Act program. Both arefederal grant programs that the states useto provide funding for local victim assis-tance or domestic violence programs.The VOCA program funds approximate-ly 4,000 victim assistance programs na-tionwide, including the Austin program.A number of different programs are alsofunded through the U.S. Departmentof Justice and the U.S. Department ofHealth and Human Services, and addi-tional funding may be available fromthese agencies. More detailed informa-tion can be found on the Grants andFunding page on OVC’s Web site(www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc) or by call-ing the OVC Resource Center at1–800–851–3420. Although grants area good way to get started, it is importantto eventually secure funding from the lawenforcement agency so that the victimservices program is seen as an integralpart of the department.

Full-Time Victim ServiceCoordinator

In a larger law enforcement agency,the job of a victim service coordinatormust be full time, according to Hutchison.Sometimes departments have a secretarytake on the job part time, or an officer as-sumes the responsibilities. The program,however, is not likely to become estab-lished without someone whose full-timejob is dedicated to making sure that theneeds of law enforcement and victimsare met.

Implementing aVictim ServicesProgram

The tension of being part of law en-forcement but also an advocate forvictims is inherent when a victim

services division is located within a lawenforcement agency. Officers may be sus-picious of these outsider “do-gooders”who may trample on their turf. Outsideagencies may see victim advocates andcounselors who work for a law enforce-ment agency as unable to truly advocatefor victims, said Hutchison. To get to thepoint of providing such comprehensiveservices to the victims’ families, relatives,classmates, and coworkers in the murdersof the two women and young girl tookyears of work.

The Austin Victim Services Programbegan in 1980 when the local district attorney received a grant through thefederal Law Enforcement AssistanceAct (LEAA) to hire three victim coordinators—one for the district attor-ney’s office, one for the county attorney’soffice, and one for the Austin PoliceDepartment. The main purpose for thecoordinators, from the original point ofview, was to gain the support of victims in

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ESTABLISHING VICTIM SERVICES WITHIN A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: THE AUSTIN EXPERIENCE

pursuing criminal cases, hopefully leadingto higher conviction rates. At the time,Hutchison had been working at theAustin Child Guidance Center with sexually exploited children. She helpedthe police take statements from youngchildren so that they would not be re-traumatized. She was hired as the VictimCoordinator with the Austin PoliceDepartment. Like others in the field,Hutchison saw the program as a way toimprove the quality of life and safety forvictims and their families.

A year after the grant started, LEAA waseliminated, potentially jeopardizing theprogram at its birth. The police chief,however, supported the program andwent to the city manager and city coun-cil for funding. Hutchison was hired as amember of the police department. As shebuilt the Victim Services Division withinthe Austin law enforcement agency overthe past 20 years, Hutchison developed anapproach that could help others who wantto start a similar program. Hutchison out-lined three phases for establishing a vic-tim assistance program within a lawenforcement agency. These three phasesemphasize the importance of understand-ing the law enforcement culture andbeing able to fit in, becoming an essentialpart of the agency, and developing staffand preventing staff burnout.

The First Phase: Understandingthe Law Enforcement Culture

The first phase in the evolution of theAustin program, which comprised thefirst 3 years of the program, ensured thesurvival of the program. Hutchison wason call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.“I would come back to work any time toprove that it was viable,” Hutchison said.“As much as a police chief might tout it,if it isn’t in the culture and available, youwon’t break through.”

In the first few years, the Austin programset up the Crisis Response Team and theMajor Crimes Unit, both of which ini-tially went out two nights a week becauseof limited personnel. The program learnedfrom its mistakes. For example, a counselorwho was assigned to the homicide unit wasthen pulled off by Victim Services to re-spond to other cases. The sergeants inhomicide, however, wanted the counselorto be around and available.

Secure Support From the TopLaw enforcement officers and supervi-

sors are used to seeing programs comeand go, and so they are likely to be skep-tical of anything new. Compounding thisattitude is the fact that civilians are com-ing into a paramilitary organization. It isnever easy for nonsworn people in a lawenforcement organization to be listenedto, according to Chief Stan Knee. That iswhy it is critical for the chief to be visiblybehind these programs. Those workingunder the chief, like assistant chiefs andothers who have political aspirations, willtake a cue from the chief about whetheror not a program is valued. “I had topmanagement support from the chief,”Hutchison said. Therefore, a supportivesupervisor is essential in establishing avictim services program in a law enforce-ment agency. “If [officers] see that thechief is not 100 percent behind the pro-gram, they get the message. If someonemakes a cutting remark and the powersthat be don’t stop it, then it is seen asokay to do that,” said Commander BillyPence. “If the chief seems neutral or op-posed, then that’s the green light to dis-count the program or to raid its funding.”

For those who want to establish a similarprogram, Hutchison suggests how to ap-proach a chief. All chiefs struggle withthe dilemma of not having enough patrolofficers and having too many calls. Pro-gram advocates need to point out that

victim services counselors can help freeup officer time by working with victimswhile officers return to pressing calls andinvestigations. Counselors can also bol-ster cases by helping victims feel morecomfortable with law enforcement. Chiefshave a humanitarian interest in helpingto make their communities safer and im-proving the quality of life, all of whichsupport the goals of victim services.

Ensure That Victim Services Reportsto a High-Level Supervisor

Victim services personnel should re-port to a high-level supervisor like a sher-iff or assistant police chief rather than asergeant or captain. When Hutchisonfirst started working at the Austin PoliceDepartment, she reported to a captain inthe major crimes division. The captainwanted her to stay around the office, andhe could veto her working with patrolor training, which was part of the largermission of the program. This made itmore difficult for her to establish the pro-gram with line officers or other parts ofthe department. When she later movedunder an assistant chief, she had morefreedom to make program decisions withless supervision. Hutchison had the flexi-bility to work throughout the depart-ment, thus expanding her duties (e.g.,training cadets, helping children in a narcotics sting).

Make Victim Services Part of PoliceGeneral Orders

Another way to institutionalize theprogram is to put victim services work inthe general orders that law enforcementofficers must follow. General orders in apolice department govern the conductand responsibility of sworn officers.Requiring the use of victim services inthe general orders also ensures that cadetswill be trained from the beginning aboutthe role of victim services in the policedepartment. In the Austin Police

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Department, the general orders requireofficers to involve the Victim ServicesDivision in 14 types of calls, includinghomicide, child abuse or child death, ag-gravated robbery of a business, mass orpartial disaster, hostage situations, aviationdisaster, and sexual assault. Counselorsmay receive other calls by request from of-ficers, emergency medical services, or thefire department, or by going to the calland standing by. The Victim ServicesDivision recently had new general ordersapproved by the department that allowcrisis teams to respond to any call andwork with any victim or survivor afterthe officer’s or detective’s job is finished.If the scene is unsafe so that a counselorcannot stay at the scene alone and theofficer is impeded from returning to serv-ice, then the counselor must move thevictims to a safe location. If such a moveis not possible, the counselor shouldleave information about available serv-ices for the victim to use later.

Get Key Officers Involved—Find theInformal Power Structure

When Hutchison began building thisprogram, she quickly identified the mostrespected and influential officers. To doso, she went to every shift for every sectorin the city and asked officers whom theywould want as a backup in a dangeroussituation. In each shift, the same two offi-cers were always chosen. Hutchison wentto them and told them that their fellowofficers chose them as their most respect-ed officers. She asked them to be part ofa patrol officer committee that wouldwrite guidelines for exactly how a crisisresponse team would respond to calls andoffer assistance to patrol officers. Shecould not pay overtime but offered com-pensatory time. In the end, 60 percent ofthe officers showed up for the committeeand 98 percent of the platoons were rep-resented. The process took 1 year fromthe initial discussion with patrol officers

to formally establishing the guidelines.“I never said, ‘Should we have a crisisteam?’” Hutchison pointed out. “I said‘How do we do this? What is the leastthreatening way and the most acceptableway to do this?’”

By having patrol officers develop theseguidelines, they had some control overthis program that proposed to send civil-ians into crime scenes. Once the officerswere assured that they were still in con-trol of their cases, they were willing toallow victim services to begin a partner-ship with them, working as a team.

Make Their Jobs Easier Hutchison also rode out on countless

shifts with officers and was called to helpwith cases by the major crime homicideunit, which has the highest status in thedepartment. Hutchison was seen as a partof a team given access to the most guard-ed and secured scenes. Her presencedemonstrated that she was acceptedamong those respected detectives. Shealso wanted to be visible to remind patrolofficers that she was there to help them.In addition, Hutchison wanted them tosee that she was careful and followed pro-tocol around crime scenes. “The key ismaking their jobs easier,” Hutchison said.“We needed to build trust. We not onlysaved officers’ time, but we didn’t muckup their cases. This was a criminal inves-tigation, highly secure and confidential.We showed ourselves to be respectful oftheir power and domain of control. Theywere willing to give some power back andsee us more as partners.”

In any law enforcement agency, small orlarge, one way to get started is to find apart of the city where the commandersare willing to try this program. Sergeantsneed to be behind this as well as thechief. For patrol officers, their sergeantsare more influential in their day-to-dayactivity than is their chief. If one or two

sergeants believe in the program, theycan sell it to their officers.

Understand the Dynamics of the LawEnforcement Culture and Fit In

Hutchison says that it takes a certaintype of person to blend into the law en-forcement culture. Police are concernedabout the security of their case and arewary of outsiders who might inadvertent-ly ruin the investigation or evidence.Someone who is setting up a victim serv-ices division within a law enforcementagency needs to understand that cultureand feel comfortable there. That maymean bantering with the officers whilestill pushing the program. Also, Hutchisonemphasizes that the police department isnot the same as working in a nonprofitadvocacy agency. While advocacy is a toppriority, victim advocates must also un-derstand the law enforcement culture andblend in to attain the goals of meeting theneeds of victims and officers. Hutchisongives the example: “A victim advocatemay hear two officers making a joke ata crime scene away from others’ ears,which may not be necessarily cold-heartedbut just relieving tension.”

Start With the Basics—Help PatrolOfficers With Family Violence Calls

When the Austin Victim ServicesProgram started, Commander Billy Pencewas a patrol officer and part of the infor-mal power structure that Hutchison hadidentified. Police had the attitude that“we’re cops and you’re not,” Pence re-called. Patrol officers, however, also rec-ognized that they had a problem they didnot know how to solve. “The thing withcops is that we were making these callsfor family disturbances and, back then,unless we saw the man assault the wife,we couldn’t do anything,” Pence said. “Iremember making those calls and feelingreally bad about leaving. When Ann[Hutchison] came up with the program,

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ESTABLISHING VICTIM SERVICES WITHIN A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: THE AUSTIN EXPERIENCE

it was an answer. It freed up our time.[In the past] there was a lot of timespent sitting with victims—that wastime consuming and yet we felt badthat we weren’t doing more.”

Initially, the police chief wanted Hutchisonto work on family violence cases. Most ofthe family violence calls came between6 p.m. and 2 a.m. on the weekends whenall the social service agencies, except rapecrisis shelters and shelters for batteredwomen (normally full), were closed. Tohave a trained counselor able to come tothe scene immediately meant that an of-ficer could get back in service faster andrespond to other calls. An officer alsohad something more to offer a victim.Counselors could provide a sympatheticear, crisis counseling, and practical re-sources for victims of family violence. (Bythe time the Austin Victim ServicesProgram began in March 1980, the offi-cer guidelines committee had recommend-ed that counselors be available for all callrequests.)

Victim services counselors started withproviding basic services to patrol officers.If police were executing a series of searchwarrants and had to arrest parents, coun-selors would take care of the children soofficers could go on to the next call.Babysitting may not be the favoriteduty of trained counselors, but it often allowed them an opportunity to assessany trauma or problems that the childrenwere having, thus demonstrating thatthe counselors were a valuable additionto the police department. They also estab-lished a goal of arriving at a scene within15 minutes or less for 75 percent of callsso that the officers did not have to waitfor them.

Assistant Police Chief Michael McDonaldrecalled an incident early in the VictimServices Program in which the counsel-ors proved themselves. He was a patrol

officer at that time, and one morning atabout 8 a.m. he received a call of a possi-ble sexual assault. He arrived at an apart-ment and knocked on the door. Awoman opened the door just a couple ofinches. She was distraught and afraid.McDonald remembers her hands trem-bling. McDonald and his partner talkedto her and tried to persuade her to letthem in, but she would not open the doorfurther. He worried that the assailantmight still be inside and wonderedwhether he should force his way in. Buthe sensed that the woman was alone anddid not want to traumatize her more bybarging in. McDonald decided to callVictim Services. It was one of the firsttimes he had asked them for help.

A female counselor arrived and talked tothe woman for about 45 minutes. Thenthe counselor told McDonald that shethought the woman was embarrassed totalk to another woman about what hadhappened, which surprised McDonald.The counselor recommended calling ina male colleague, which the officers did.The man spoke to her and persuaded herto let them in the house. Four hours afterMcDonald arrived, the woman openedthe door. Once inside, the woman toldthem that she went into her apartmentbuilding the night before when a manfollowed her, forced his way into herplace, and raped her. From the descrip-tion, it sounded similar to two otherrapes that had taken place in the area.Police had a suspect, but none of the vic-tims could positively identify him. Fromthe look of this case, police had run intothe same difficulty. The woman was re-luctant to say much, and she had alreadytaken a shower, thus destroying some ofthe evidence of the crime.

“We started asking questions and shefroze up,” McDonald said. “The coun-selors talked to her and said that theyknew how bad it was for her but that it

was important to catch the person re-sponsible for this. She shouldn’t feelashamed.” The counselors explained toher that the officers needed to gather herclothes for testing, and she eventuallytold the counselors which clothesMcDonald and his partner should collectfrom her bedroom. The counselors accom-panied the woman to the hospital exami-nation. The evidence that the officersgathered, along with her positive identifi-cation of the assailant, helped convictthe suspect. “[The counselors] made atremendous difference,” McDonald said.“We didn’t have to overreact and makethings worse for her.”

Address Problems and ConflictsQuickly

When problems occur, and they will,it is critical that the victim services coor-dinator address them quickly. For exam-ple, an officer might perceive that acounselor did not follow his or her re-quests. It is important for victim servicescounselors to have established good rap-port with law enforcement officers so thatofficers will come to them when there areproblems. Counselors need to listen tothe officers’ issues and validate their feel-ings and issues. According to Hutchison,every time she talked to an officer abouta problem, it worked out well. All of theofficers were more than willing to seeboth sides or accept Hutchison’s apology,if necessary. In fact, most officers noware protective of the Austin counselorsand want to work out differences quickly,according to Hutchison.

Second Phase: Becoming anEssential Part of the Agency

The second phase of the program ischanging victim services from beingviewed as a luxury to being accepted asan essential part of the law enforcementagency. In Austin, that took an addition-al 10 years. During that time, Hutchison

OVC Bulletin

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focused on program development and onensuring that the staff delivered qualityservices. One of the difficulties forHutchison was handing over power toher staff. For the first several years, shewas the program, and she knew she coulddo the job. For it to grow and providemore comprehensive services, Hutchisonhad to delegate responsibilities and duties.

Add More Services The program also concentrated on

securing grants to add more services andon establishing performance measuresand collecting statistics to back up theDivision’s usefulness. During the secondphase, the program added the Children’sService Unit through a grant in 1984 andthe Family Violence Protection Unit in1989. In 1985, counselors also started for-mally offering debriefings for officers whoworked on traumatic cases. From time totime, Hutchison would call together thepatrol officers’ guidelines committee tocheck on how the program was going andto make any needed changes.

“By 1990, we were seen as a strong, impor-tant part of the Austin Police Department,”Hutchison said. “That doesn’t meanthat we are equals. That’s just a reality.Civilians are support staff to law enforce-ment. But we are key personnel to advo-cate for victims, the community, and theofficers.”

Develop and Track Measurable Goalsand Keep Good Statistics

Having measurable goals and keepingtrack of them is a way to monitor a pro-gram’s progress and to demonstrate tolaw enforcement and to funders thatthe services are making a difference.Each unit of the Austin Victim ServicesDivision has specific goals that are trackedevery month. The program’s highestnumber of calls are for family violence,

and it has a goal of reducing the numberof calls to the same household or the re-cidivism rate with the families they workwith to 10 percent; the national averageis 55 percent to 65 percent. In 1998, therecidivism rate was about 20 percent oncalls that Victim Services worked on inAustin. According to statistics compiledby the Austin program, if officers respondto four or more calls to the same addressfor family violence, it escalates the pre-dictability of an aggravated assault orhomicide by 75 percent. The VictimServices Division also has a goal of get-ting some services to 100 percent of allvictims of violent crime. Counselors arereaching about one-third of the victims,Hutchison said. Those services can in-clude having volunteers call victims whohave not received services to see howthey are doing and whether they needany emotional support. The VictimServices Division is also working on run-ning public service announcements andputting up billboards so that crime vic-tims will know about victim services. TheVictim Services Division is establishingalliances with faith communities, whocan help victims with needs suchas transportation, house repairs, food,and rent.

Another important statistic to keep is thenumber of officer hours saved by provid-ing these services. That statistic is a goodway of quantifying to law enforcementagencies the impact of these victim serv-ices. In 1999, Victim Services DivisionCrisis Teams saved the Austin PoliceDepartment patrol officers 3,672 hours—time that they would have otherwisespent with victims. Instead, VictimServices counselors worked with victimsin many ways, which included calmingthem down, taking statements, and ar-ranging for transportation or services.This allowed officers to finish investigat-ing a crime or to take more calls.

Third Phase: Maintaining Staff

Take Care of Your Own In this third phase, the Victim Services

Division took a step back and examinedwhat they needed to do to take care ofthemselves as well. While they often helddebriefings for officers involved in casesof traumatic deaths, they rarely did thesame for themselves. According toHutchison, the counselors were so con-cerned about proving to officers that theywere tough enough to handle the jobthat at times they neglected their ownwell-being. Now, policies are in place tomake sure that counselors take care ofthemselves and are taken care of. No onecan handle more than three death casesper week without approval from a super-visor. Supervisors meet every other weekwith counselors, and the units hold staffmeetings twice a month to see how peo-ple handle group interactions. Everycounselor talks to a staff psychologistevery 6 months for a checkup.

Hire Staff With Varying BackgroundsWhen hiring for a victim services

unit, it is important to hire skilled indi-viduals who reflect the needs of the com-munity. The Austin program has madespecial efforts to bring cultural diversityto the unit—to hire staff who speakSpanish, have specialized training inworking with children, and have exper-tise in crisis intervention. The programhires mental health professionals withvarying levels of experience who handlea variety of situations from crisis inter-vention to assessment. In addition, theAustin program has a number of staffwho support victims through the criminaljustice system by providing them infor-mation about the case and about theirrights. Many programs choose to havevictim advocates in this position. TheAustin program utilizes other mentalhealth professionals for this work.

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ESTABLISHING VICTIM SERVICES WITHIN A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: THE AUSTIN EXPERIENCE

Everyone who is hired or who volunteersfirst undergoes careful screening to ensurethat they are suited for the often stressfulwork.

The program has also set up a structurefor volunteers. At first, the program usedvolunteers who were criminal justice in-terns and undergraduates in mentalhealth, but the cases were too intenseand demanded too much immediate as-sessment for the students’ abilities. Now,all volunteers must have a backgroundin mental health or 2 years of counselingexperience. They are given a criminalbackground check and must go through60 hours of training over 8 weeks to beon a crisis team. Those who want to vol-unteer must go on an 8-hour ride-alongshift with a police officer who gives inputabout whether they are well suited forthis work. Volunteers also must committo working one 8-hour shift a month fora year.

People volunteer for the crisis team be-cause they want to use or develop theirskills in crisis counseling. Not a lot of ac-ademic courses exist on crisis counseling,according to Steve Holifield, a licensedprofessional counselor who coordinatesthe training. Law enforcement personnelteach some of the volunteer classes,which is one way for them to become in-vested in the program. Paid counselorscan nominate volunteers to be team lead-ers who drive the car, work the radio, andmake all the same decisions as the staff.The program currently has 12 volunteerswho are team leaders. Holifield keeps intouch with the volunteers by e-mailingthem or calling to check in after eachshift that they work.

Conclusion

Now that the Victim ServicesDivision at the Austin PoliceDepartment is well established,

the program faces the challenges of meet-ing the demands of a decentralized de-partment. When Hutchison started 20years ago, she knew virtually every officerin the department. That is no longer pos-sible. Austin has grown from 250,000to 800,000 residents in the past twodecades. The District RepresentativeUnit, which was set up in 1996, is oneanswer to that problem. Those counselorsare also able to address the previously un-known victims—like a woman who sangin the choir or the coworker and kidsdown the street who were affected whensomeone they knew was killed. In thepast, Victim Services may not havereached out to them.

In the months following the triple homi-cide, Victim Services counselors contin-ued to provide services to the victims’families, friends, and coworkers. A littlemore than a year after the murders, thesuspect, Louis Castro Perez, was convict-ed of murder and given the death penal-ty. Officers had found a palm print on abloody tile floor, which matched a printof Perez that they had on file. Prosecutorsnever discovered a clear motive for theslayings. In the midst of this horror, thevictims’ families have had someone fromVictim Services at their side, right fromthe start. “They had access to assistancethat they otherwise wouldn’t have had,”said Delores Litton, the counselor inthe homicide unit who worked mostclosely with the victims’ families. “Theyhad information about what would hap-pen next in the investigation. They hadsome guidance on what to do next, likehow to find counseling for their children.They did not have to worry about thosedetails . . . .”

Biography

Ann Hutchison is the founder andformer director of the VictimServices Division of the Austin

(Texas) Police Department. For morethan 20 years, she has been a therapistand counselor and provided crisis inter-vention for trauma victims and familymembers. She has intervened on behalfof victims, survivors, children, and em-ployees in events such as the Killeen-Luby Massacre, the Waco-BranchDavidian siege, and the Oklahoma CityMurrah Federal Building bombing.Hutchison has been responsible for manyprojects and grants and their implemen-tation to seed, expand, and build directservices for victims and survivors.

Hutchison’s work has been recognizedstatewide and nationally. Hutchison’sVictim Services Program in Austin,Texas, has been recognized by OVC asone of the top two law enforcement vic-tim assistance programs in the Nationand by the National Center for Victimsof Crime for “Best Model Crisis Team.”Hutchison also has been featured threetimes on the Rescue 911 televisionshow for her Crisis Team Unit, FamilyViolence Unit, and for her work on de-briefing officers by victims services staff.Hutchison has assisted law enforcementagencies nationally and internationally(including Japan, Canada, England, andGermany) in developing victim servicesprograms. She has received the Governor’sAward for Excellence in Victim Assistancein a Law Enforcement Agency in addi-tion to the YWCA Women LeadersAward for Outstanding Achievement/Health and Human Services.

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

Office for Victims of Crime

Washington, DC 20531

Official Business

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For FurtherInformation

For additional information about theAustin Police Department’s VictimServices Division, please contact—

Austin Police DepartmentAnn HutchisonDirector, Victim Services 715 East Eighth StreetAustin, TX 78701512– 974–5889Fax: 512–974–6619E-mail: Ann4698@aol.com

For other victim-related information,please contact—

Office for Victims of CrimeU.S. Department of Justice810 Seventh Street NW., Eighth FloorWashington, DC 20531202–307–5983Fax: 202–514–6383World Wide Web: www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc

Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center

P.O. Box 6000Rockville, MD 20849–60001–800–851–3420 or 301–519–5500E-mail for print publication orders:

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NCJ 185334

OVC Bulletin

Preparation of this document was sup-ported by the Office for Victims of Crime,Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Depart-ment of Justice.The opinions, findings,conclusions, and recommendations ex-pressed in this document are those of theauthor and do not necessarily representthe official position or policies of the U.S.Department of Justice.

The Office for Victims of Crime is a com-ponent of the Office of Justice Programs,which also includes the Bureau of JusticeAssistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics,the National Institute of Justice, and theOffice of Juvenile Justice and DelinquencyPrevention.

About the AuthorCurrently a freelance journalist,Susan Parker has reported on violentcrime, police misconduct, legaltrends, and high-profile court casesand developed feature stories examin-ing how crime and violence affectpeople’s lives. Her articles on theconflict in Guatemala were publishedin Time Magazine and The SanFrancisco Chronicle, including a fea-ture on an innovative program tohelp children cope with the traumaof war.