Police Trauma Paper

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How Law Enforcement handles sexual assault related cases is vital for the well being of not just the victim, but also the case itself. Law enforcement officers need proper training and education to be able to better understand and assist the victim with the complex trauma they may be experiencing. In this paper, I will discuss the complexity that sexual assault victims face both mentally and physically, as well as proper steps and training to better prepare law enforcement for sexual assault cases.

Neurobiology of sexual assault trauma First I will define what trauma is and the areas in the brain that trauma effects, according to Understanding the Neurobiology of Trauma and Implications for Interviewing Victims trauma is defined as “an event …show more content…
A police officer may see Dissociation, Tonic Immobility and Collapsed Immobility when dealing with a victim of sexual assault. With dissociation, an officer may see a victim acting non-responsive to questions that he or she is asking them, and seem “spaced out”. Many officers may look at the victim as if they are intoxicated, using deception or unwilling to cooperate with the investigation. With tonic immobility, an officer may look at a victim's narrative of what happened and wonder why they did not run or scream during the incident. Lastly, with collapsed immobility, an officer may view the actions of the victim as consensual because the victim did not fight back or attempt to stop the subject. It is important for officers to understand the three survival reflexes: (1) Dissociation, (2) Tonic immobility, or (3) Collapsed immobility when dealing with victims of sexual assault because it will help the officer understand the reasons the victim responded the way they did. By officers understanding some of the common survival reflexes, they are able to better support and assist the victim. Fragmented memory Fragmented memory is when the victim's memory of the event is disorganized with the narrative of the events being vague. An article titled Trauma and Memory in the Prosecution of Sexual Assault By: Cynthia V. Ward states that fragmented memory happens because the brain stores trauma …show more content…
The Minnesota POST model for sexual assault seems very complete and covers multiple aspects of sexual assault and provides clear direction for officers when responding to sexual assault cases and the victims of sexual assault. I would include more information within the policy on best practices for interviewing a victim of sexual assault and how to navigate victims that are dealing with fragmented memories, dissociation and other trauma related responses. I also believe that each law enforcement department should have specialized “trauma officers” that can be called in to deal with trauma victims and that have more training and experience. I believe creating a specialized role within departments will help provide more constituency in the care of trauma victims with the hopes of lowering violations of the model policy. Officers who violate the Minnesota POST’s Investigation of Sexual Assault Model should be given a coaching plan as well as provided with supplemental training when dealing with sexual assault cases. If violations of the model continue, the Officer(s) could be put on administrative leave or even
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