District Attorney Branson Announces Sexual Assault, Response, Investigation, and Prosecution Training to Begin this Week

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson today announced the Sexual Assault, Response, Investigation, and Prosecution: Victim Centered, Trauma Informed, and Offender Focused training hosted by the District Attorney’s Office is set to begin October 6th, 2020. The training, originally scheduled for April 2020 had been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be presented in a virtual format with the assistance of the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence. 

This comprehensive three-day training program has been developed with national expert Chief Thomas R. Tremblay (Ret.). The training will bring together local law enforcement investigators, prosecutors, and survivor support agencies to ensure that individuals providing services to sexual assault victims/survivors recognize and understand victim trauma and utilize effective communication and interview skills to enhance response, investigations, and prosecutions.

Tremblay is a national leader in the development and delivery of Trauma Informed Sexual Assault Investigations Training. He assisted the International Association of Chiefs of Police with the development of a national curriculum for Trauma Informed Response to Sexual Assault. He also assisted the National Center for Campus Public Safety with the White House Task Force recommendation to develop a new curriculum for Trauma Informed Sexual Assault Investigations specifically for Colleges and Universities across the country.

This is the second step of the plan announced by Branson in February 2020 to work in coordination with local law enforcement agencies and community partners to strengthen law enforcement’s response to sexual assault and rape investigations and prosecutions. Tremblay will also assist the recently formed Douglas County Sexual Assault and Trauma Task Force with identifying and implementing additional policies aimed at strengthening response to sexual assault. Once implemented, the protocols will create consistency in the investigation of sexual assaults from agency to agency and the District Attorney’s Office.