Building Stronger Cases: Effective, Sustainable, and Collaborative Investigations

Building Stronger Cases: Effective, Sustainable, and Collaborative Investigations

February 10-11, 2025

8:30 am-5:00 pm

Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Academy

Fredericksburg, Virginia

The Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) is pleased to announce that registration is now open for ”Building Stronger Cases: Effective, Sustainable, and Collaborative Investigations.” This in-person training, offered in collaboration with the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) National Violence Against Women Law Enforcement Training and Technical Assistance Consortium (LETTAC), is designed specifically for law enforcement leadership, supervisors, field training officers, and program directors. This event, with train-the-trainer components, will equip attendees with the information and tools needed to strengthen gender-based violence case review, explore topics such as ethical and legal obligations around victim confidentiality, provide information for effective supervision, and offer strategies to cultivate prioritization of comprehensive gender-based violence responses within their departments.

Who Should Attend?
This training is intended for law enforcement leadership, supervisors, field training officers, and program directors. VSTOP grant-funded organizations are strongly encouraged to attend.

Event Description
Domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, strangulation, and gender-based violence are complex and often present with co-occurring crimes. To best support the victims of these crimes, ensure their rights are upheld, and hold offenders accountable, law enforcement must understand the context of these crimes, conduct thorough, evidence-based investigations, and have established referral systems in place to help stabilize the victims such that they can continue to participate in criminal justice processes. This leadership-focused training will take the audience through the complexities of these crimes; unpack key elements of trauma-informed investigation, including effective report writing and review; identify key victims’ rights and how they impact investigation, including the legal concepts of privacy, privilege, and confidentiality; and articulate strategies to increase and maintain meaningful partnerships. Throughout the training, key elements of effective supervision will be interwoven, and attendees will leave the training with an action plan to ensure the sustainability of best practices.  

Event Objectives
After this training, participants will be able to:

• Understand the complexities of gender-based violence  

• Articulate key ethical and legal obligations and liabilities of law enforcement personnel regarding victims’ rights and the confidentiality of victim information

• Better supervise and support staff working with victims to increase effectiveness and sustainability

• Create a culture of trauma-informed, victim-inclusive law enforcement

• Foster effective community collaborations with other victim-serving organizations

Partial In-service Credit:
Partial in-service credit for law enforcement is pending.

Transportation, Lodging, and Meals:
Participants are responsible for their own transportation, lodging, and meal expenses.

Participant Registration and Cost:
This training is free. Participants must register in advance using the following link:
https://www.dcjs.virginia.gov/eventRegistration/register.cfm?eventid=3721

Presenters:

Meg Garvin, MA, JD, MSt, Executive Director, National Crime Victim Law Institute: Ms. Meg Garvin is the executive director of the National Crime Victim Law Institute (NCVLI) and a clinical professor of law at Lewis and Clark Law School. Ms. Garvin is recognized as a leading expert on victims’ rights. She has testified before Congress, state legislatures, and the Judicial Proceedings Panel on Sexual Assault in the Military. In her expert capacity, she serves on the Defense Advisory Committee on Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces, the Victims Advisory Group of the United States Sentencing Commission, and is a member of the Council on Criminal Justice. She previously served on the Victim Services Subcommittee of the Response Systems to Adult Sexual Assault Crime Panel of the United States Department of Defense, as co-chair of the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section Victims Committee, co-chair of the Oregon Attorney General’s Crime Victims’ Rights Task Force, and a member of the Legislative and Public Policy Committee of the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force. Prior to joining NCVLI, Ms. Garvin practiced law in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and clerked for the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. She received her juris doctor from the University of Minnesota, her master’s degree in international human rights law from Oxford University, her master of arts degree in communication studies from the University of Iowa, and her bachelor of arts degree from the University of Puget Sound.

Sergeant Denise Jones, Clark County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office: Sergeant Denise Jones has worked in law enforcement for more than 24 years. She is currently a victim services sergeant within the Clark County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) Investigations Division. She began her career in January 2000 with the Montgomery County, Ohio, Sheriff’s Office and came to the CCSO in 2007. She has served in multiple divisions, including Corrections, Court Services, and Road Patrol. Sergeant Jones was promoted to the rank of sergeant in 2015, serving as a supervisor in both the Jail and Road Patrol Divisions. She works primarily with intimate partner crime, such as stalking, domestic violence, strangulation, and protection order violations, in addition to conducting internal investigations, training, and orientation. Sergeant Jones has been engaged in changing the department’s culture, the department’s response to intimate partner crime and establishing new policies and procedures about issues within the minority populations of the community and intimate partner crime. Sergeant Jones has been awarded the “Best of the Best,” the Meritorious Service, and the Outstanding Performance Awards. Sergeant Jones has served on the honor guard for sixteen years, including serving as the honor guard commander. Sergeant Jones served in the United States Army, serving in the Ohio Army National Guard for six years. She attended Sinclair Community College, where she obtained her Ohio Peace Officers Training Certificate and her associate’s degree in applied science. She has continued her education throughout her tenure at the CCSO. She earned a master of science degree in criminal justice administration and master of science degree in emergency services management. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice administration and has a bachelor of science degree in homeland security from Columbia Southern University.

Corporal Angela Weekes (retired), Nampa, Idaho, Police Department: Corporal Angela Weekes (retired) has close to 30 years of law enforcement experience with the Nampa, Idaho, Police Department. She began her career with the Nampa Police Department in 1994. She has served the City of Nampa in several capacities, including patrol, school resource officer, DARE officer, and child abuse investigator. Her last assignment was as a corporal in the Crimes Against Persons Unit in the Investigation Division. She retired in August 2020. Corporal Weekes served as a member of the Canyon County Multidisciplinary Team of Child Abuse, the Canyon County Sexual Assault Response Team, and the Canyon County Child Death Review Team. She is a certified Federal Law Enforcement Training Center instructor on domestic violence. She is certified by the Idaho Peace Officer’s Standards and Training Academy in domestic violence and sexual assault and for the Idaho Coalition on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. Corporal Weekes has instructed at the International Family Justice Center Conference and is the visionary of the Nampa Family Justice Center (FJC), recently recognized for its efforts in this field by its selection as a model site to develop FJCs. She currently serves on a FJC management team and is their foundation board president. She led the Nampa Police Department’s participation in the International Association of Chiefs of Police Integrity, Action, and Justice: Strengthening Law Enforcement Response to Domestic and Sexual Violence Demonstration Initiative. In 2022, Corporal Weekes contracted with the U.S. Department of Justice as a subject-matter expert in domestic violence during their civil rights investigation into the Louisville Police Department. She was also selected by the Chicago Police Department and the National Police Institute to train the trainers for the Chicago Police Department in gender bias crimes investigations. Corporal Weekes received the Idaho Council on Domestic Violence’s Law Enforcement Silver Star Award, the God and Country Rally’s Outstanding Public Service Award, the Nampa Valley Grange and State of Idaho Grange Outstanding Service as a Victim’s Rights Advocate, and the Idaho Press Tribune’s 103 club award recognizing individuals making contributions to their community. She also received the Idaho Victim Witness Association 2012 Victims Services Award. In 2014, she received the Outstanding Service to Victims of Family Violence Award from the Nampa Family Justice Center.