Description of Training:  Bias is a significant barrier to successfully investigating and prosecuting sexual assault and other gender-based crimes. This virtual workshop is designed to identify, challenge and overcome bias in the investigation and in the courtroom, and to offer techniques to keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable. Professionals are sometimes reluctant to believe, or unable to recognize, that they have biases or harbor stereotypes that can undermine the investigation and prosecution of sexual assault. In fact, worldviews, lived realities, and cultural messages become self-fulfilling prophecies that inevitably shape how we think. Criminal justice professionals must understand sexual assault dynamics. Using real life case examples, attendees will learn to identify how acceptance of certain practices, societal norms, and boundaries evolve into worldviews, which can undermine the investigation, prosecution, and outcome of a sexual assault case.

Date:  April 15, 2021 from 2:00 pm until 3:30 pm

This training has been approved for 1.5 hours of PIC credits.

Presenters:

Jerald Monahan, Chief of Police for Yavapai College Police Department

Jerald Monahan has over four decades of service as an Arizona public safety official, currently serving as the Chief of Police for Yavapai College Police Department in Prescott. He has served in a chief’s position since 2005 with several agencies.

Actively involved in the prevention and intervention of violence, Chief Monahan previously served as a member of the Board of Directors for End Violence Against Women International, including serving as the board president. He also serves as a consultant and trainer for the National Domestic Violence Fatality Review Initiative and Family Violence Institute. He is the Advisory Board Chair of the National Center for the Prevention of Community Violence (NCPCV) and serves as the Associate Director of Training and Business Development for this national non-profit. Chief Monahan has served on various boards and commissions, all with their mission and focus on interrupting the process of violence with an emphasis on preventing violence against women. Chief Monahan holds a Master of Science in Leadership and Crisis Preparedness and a Bachelor of Science in Public Safety Administration from Grand Canyon University. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, 230th Session.

Sheila Polk, Yavapai County Attorney

Sheila Polk, County Attorney for Yavapai County, is a native Arizonan who received her Bachelor’s Degree and Law Degree from Arizona State University. After clerking for Arizona Supreme Court Justice Jack Hays, Polk served in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for eleven years before moving to Yavapai County in 1994. There, she joined the Yavapai County Attorney’s Office where she specialized in the prosecution of felony crimes, including elder abuse, sexual offenses and repeat felony offenders.

In November of 2000, Polk became the first woman to be elected to the position of Yavapai County Attorney, and is currently serving her fifth term in that position. In addition to overseeing a staff of 90 employees, a budget of $7 million, and active prosecutions, Polk has found time to be at the forefront of change. She assists as faculty with the CWAG Alliance Partnership, a cooperative initiative to strengthen the legal system in Mexico by training in programs that promote the consistent application of the rule of law disciplines, including oral advocacy. She serves on the Governor’s Arizona Human Trafficking Council as chair of the Policy Committee.

In 2016, she worked on the Governor’s Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit Task Force. Polk is the state chairperson for both the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys’ Advisory Council (APAAC), and the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC). Polk is Co-Chair and founding member of MATFORCE, the Yavapai County substance abuse coalition, nationally awarded the 2013 Outstanding Coalition of the Year. She is the driving stimulus behind the nationally renowned law enforcement course, What You Do Matters: Lessons from the Holocaust. In 2018, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum recognized Polk as an “agent of change” for her accomplishments at a national tribute dinner in Washington D.C.

Participant Registration and Cost: This training is free.  Participants need to register in advance for the training.  Please click on registration button located at the top of the page.