Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Trauma Response Bootcamp within State of Alaska, Recommendation

This recommendation report is very similar to the Informative Report - however, it is written as a recommendation report instead.

With domestic violence rates within the State of Alaska being at an alarmingly high rate currently (Burke, 2022), it is proposed to that the Governor’s Office of Alaska should implement a new training boot camp program for law enforcement agencies in Alaska. This training boot camp program would include additional training for villages to ensure proper policing of villages that do not have regular law enforcement stationed within the villages or regular law enforcement appearances.

Resistance to this program is anticipated if certain factors are present. These factors rely heavily on the State of Alaska’s ability to communicate the change and create a smooth transition for employees of the Department. If the training boot camp program is not well communicated, and the importance is not well explained, it can give the appearance of an “authoritarian-totalitarian system,” (Lingamneni, 1979), even giving the appearance of “traditionalist leadership styles,” (Lingamneni, 1979), by dictating what is best for the employees of the Department, and “negative attitudes of police chiefs,” (Lingamneni, 1979), or the Colonel of the Department. The worst form of resistance that can be found within a police agency, is the leadership itself. If the leadership has a poor attitude regarding changes that are being implemented, the poor attitude, thus the lack of importance regarding this change will trickle down, and the effects of this program will not be as well received by employees.

The outcome of this training boot camp program would be a new training program implemented into the training of officers within the State of Alaska. The program would put law enforcement officers through a series of events similar to what a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence feels after the crime had been committed against them. These will be psychological stressors that will be required for all law enforcement officers that could potentially respond to the scene of, or participate in the investigation of domestic violence or sexual assault crimes, or any officers that would review the reports of such crimes, or any officers making decisions that would affect responding officers regarding such crimes. While also increasing basic law enforcement training and knowledge in villages with little to no law enforcement personnel regularly within a reasonable response time. This is important to ensure proper response time to domestic violence and sexual assault-related crimes.

The psychological stressor innovation to mimic domestic violence and sexual assault responses in victims and survivors is essential due to the fact that if it is not of utmost importance, victims will routinely feel as though law enforcement does not take cases of domestic violence or sexual assault seriously enough unless there is enough evidence to prosecute (thus giving the impression that unless a case is serious enough, the officers will not handle it with the same importance). This training program will help give tools to officers to ensure they understand communication techniques and the importance of communication with a victim, earning their trust, and creating reasonable motivation within the officer to look into and pursue charges of this nature—regardless of what their caseload is currently. An officer, regardless of caseload, would see the importance of why a domestic violence or sexual assault case is much more sensitive.

The call to action required for this innovation is to be willing to send each agency’s law enforcement officers through psychological boot camp training for domestic violence and sexual assault. Each new officer coming into the agency would be required to attend this additional boot camp training program, before beginning duties set forth within their job description. However, this program would be separate from Field Training and the initial boot camp.

Criteria

Within the ranks of the Alaska State Troopers specifically, and the Alaska Wildlife Troopers, there are emerging divisions created for mental health awareness within the Department. The Lieutenant and Troopers overseeing this Division are of utmost importance to the law enforcement employed by this Department, as they create trust within the ranks of Troopers, and they act as a safe place for law enforcement officers to report any help they may need assistance dealing with regarding stressors of the job. If a law enforcement officer experiences Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to the situations they encounter relating to Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault crimes, this then would be a safe place for them to turn to. If they do in fact reach out, they will be able to receive assistance appropriately, and if this Division could not help they can give additional resources that could instead help.

As described earlier in this report, the importance of this program relies heavily on the Department’s leadership’s ability to communicate the changes to the Department’s employees. If this area is at all lacking or is not effectively communicated, then officers have the potential to have a lack of follow-through on what they learn while in the program, or they may not fully grasp all of the concepts. If the officer does not fully understand the material at hand, nor the importance of it they may not ask for clarification, follow up, or understand why it is important to either of those things at all. Thus, this criterion is strictly the leadership communication within the Department to all members of the Department.

Hands-on training designed for extremely specific purposes in law enforcement (i.e., when handling cases of domestic violence or sexual assault) will create increased trust in law enforcement officers (Klein, 2009). Additionally, officers will be able to understand the importance of differentiating between stalking and abusive behavior (Klein, 2009) to help mitigate a situation prior to the extreme situations presented during domestic violence and sexual assault investigations. The criterion here is the trust with members of the community and is of utmost importance for the ranks of law enforcement officers. Without trust in the officers of their community, the Department does not stand a chance of stopping crimes prior to their act.

A large factor in police response to domestic violence or sexual assault crime scenes is officers’ safety. A criterion of this program should be officers’ safety. If an officer is able to reenact crimes to understand the intensity of these crimes, then they will additionally be able to understand the complexities of responding to these crimes as well (IACP. 2017). Sometimes a police response can make the situation worse for the victim, the abuser, and even the law enforcement officer—and if there are any children involved.

The work and costs associated with such a program would be great, however, this learner believes that based on the criteria for this program, the benefits of creating trust in the community, officers’ safety, and already having a mental health advocate within the Department—these benefits outweigh the risks.

Recommendation

When it is shown to the public, the training sessions that the officers go through, or even allowing the public to attend the training sessions as well it will create increased trust in fellow law enforcement (Klein, 2009). There is absolutely no reason why a private citizen could not attend this training. Having private citizens, advocates, attorneys, or other individuals attend this training would create more opportunities for growth, improvement, and accountability. This training program is further recommended due to the fact that law enforcement officers would be more likely able to recognize stalking or abusive behavior through the course of routine calls, or traffic stops (Klein, 2009). Having officers understand the importance of arriving timely, the risks associated with arriving without back-up, not going in soon enough, and the risks of handling domestic violence and sexual assault cases is of utmost importance (IACP, 2017).

We understand that law enforcement goes through a lot of training to put them in the positions which they are in, we are all aware of that fact. However, what we are suggesting is not additional training, but different training (Millar et al, 2021). This training boot camp, which would be required each year to be updated on new facts and statistics and used as a refresher course would mitigate multiple risks for law enforcement.

One of the risks associated with responding to domestic violence or sexual assault scenes is the potential for an officer to get Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from seeing the visuals that they do during these crimes. If we can more accurately portray the seriousness and the risks associated with these crimes, we could hopefully save lives in the process. It is estimated that approximately 4,000 women die each year due to domestic violence (Domestic Abuse Shelter, 2019). That is approximately 4,000—at a minimum—law enforcement officers each year that have to respond to a deceased body due to domestic violence. If we can reduce the crime rate, by educating law enforcement officers to know the signs to look out for, then we can reduce officer PTSD as well.

With every training program, there is always the potential for individuals to not follow through on what they learn or to misinterpret or misunderstand a concept in the training of domestic violence, or sexual assault on victims, including children (Millar et al, 2021). However, these low-performing officers can be weeded out through performance evaluations that target specifically their understanding and experience relating to domestic violence and sexual assault. This will additionally increase their understanding of domestic violence and sexual assault on all victims, including children.

A risk associated with implementing a training boot camp that will more seriously focus on domestic violence and sexual assault is for the law enforcement officers who themselves are survivors of these crimes. Having to go through a more detailed training program, could cause these individuals to suffer workplace PTSD due to the triggering effect it could have on their personal history, however with assistance from the interdepartmental employees employed to assist with mental health this would not be a risk. This would require an additional change of hiring standards, to ensure they are psychologically equipped to manage a training course such as this. However, this training course would be nothing they would not see or handle on the job currently.

The outcome of this training boot camp program would be a new training program implemented into the training of officers within the State of Alaska. The program would be psychological stressors that will be required for all law enforcement officers that could potentially respond to the scene of or participate in the investigation of domestic violence or sexual assault or any officer that would review the reports of such crimes or make decisions regarding such crimes. This is a lot of information to ponder and think over, but in conclusion, the benefits would outweigh the risks. This innovation is especially important with the State of Alaska’s domestic violence crime remaining at an alarmingly high rate (Burke, 2022). The risks of PTSD, lack of follow-through on officers’ parts, and triggering past traumas for officers do not exceed the benefits of increased trust in law enforcement, knowledge of importance and awareness of signs of abuse and trauma, and awareness of the importance of responding to these crimes for officers. The benefits far outweigh the risks in these situations.

Resources

Burke, T. 2022. Report on Domestic Violence in Alaska Shows Rates of Abuse Remain ‘Alarmingly High.’ Alaska News Source.

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2022/05/04/report-domestic-violence-alaska-shows-rates-abuse-remain-alarmingly-high/

Domestic Abuse Shelter. 2019. Definition of Domestic Violence. Domestic Abuse Shelter. https://domesticabuseshelter.org/domestic-violence/

IACP. 2017. Four-Part Training Video: The Crime of Domestic Violence. IACP.

https://www.theiacp.org/news/blog-post/iacp-releases-four-part-training-video-the-crime-of-domestic-violence

Klein, A. 2009. Practical Implications of Current Domestic Violence Research: For Law Enforcement, Prosecutors, and Judges. United States Department of Justice.

https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/225722.pdf

Lingamneni, J. R. 1979. Resistance to Change in Police Organizations – The Diffusion Paradigm. Criminal Justice Review. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/resistance-change-police-organizations-diffusion-paradigm#:~:text=Among%20the%20factors%20that%20resist,and%20rigid%20ideology%20or%20dogma.

Millar, A., Saxton, M., Overlien, C., & Elliffe, R. 2021. Police Officers Do Not Need More Training; But Different Training. Policing Domestic Violence and Abuse Involving Children: A Rapid Review. Journal of Family Violence.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10896-021-00325-x

Rider, C. 2022. Domestic Violence Training Courses. National Sheriffs’ Association.

https://www.sheriffs.org/programs/domestic-violence-crime-victim-services/training