University police implement sexual assault prevention team, new department practices

Oct. 7—One in three women and one in six men become victims of sexual assault at some point in their lives, according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police. Of those cases, only about one-third of them get reported.

For this reason Jacksonville State University has revamped its sexual assault and domestic violence preparedness and response actions in ways that are expected to reduce the overall risk factors in its campus community.

"Generally speaking, there are risk factors. And there are reasons why the Office of Violence Against Women focused on universities," said Jana Pickette, campus grant program coordinator for that office, which is a unit of the U.S. Department of Justice.

We showcase, she said "what can be achieved by following best practices through the power of collaboration here. Because it doesn't really matter what the numbers are — one person is too many."

Pickette explained that one set of risk factors is related to age — with the age range of college students similar to the ages of those who are typically victims of sexual assault. She said one reason that people in that age range become victims is that some of the "protective factors" — being around family and support systems — are often removed once a person moves out on their own.

It is the goal of the university, school officials said, to not only equip its students with as much information as possible to prevent sexual and domestic abuse, but also to be proactive in its response, if a violent incident occurs, to encourage more victims to come forward.

Below are the annual crime statistics for JSU for the past three years:

A plan has been in the works for a few years now and is now being implemented. Thanks to a grant the school received almost three years ago from Project Beloved, JSU and its campus police were able to put better investigative techniques into practice. University police Chief Michael Barton said the techniques have been adopted from a national law enforcement effort.

First, the university police required every certified sworn officer on its force to attend specific training that would better equip them with the tools they would need to handle those types of situations.

"We've put all of our officers through 'trauma informed interviewing and response' training this summer at the International Association of Chiefs of Police which was a 32-hour training over a period of several days over the summer," Barton said.

Next, the university used some of the grant funds to outfit a space within the police station in which to conduct trauma victim interviews. Intended to give the victim comfortable surroundings in which to talk about a traumatic experience, the deliberately designed space is in stark contrast to the typical police interview room, Barton said.

"It looks like just pretty furniture, but everything in this room is designed very specifically by the organization who gave us this grant," Pickette said, explaining that Beloved Project was begun by two parents whose daughter had been raped and murdered in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2017. The couple established the nonprofit to create the specially designed interview rooms.

Everything from the paint on the walls, the swivel chairs, down to the succulent plant sitting on the coffee table in the center of the room was placed there with specific intention, Pickette said.

Victims of assault can come into the room and tell their story to the department's Investigative Sgt. Jeugenia Jubenville, whom Barton has appointed specifically to handle a particular type of assault cases.

"What we've been able to do organizationally is really try to have Sgt. Jubenville to focus on any type of domestic violence or sexual assault related crimes. She does pick up some other things from time to time, but we really want her focus to be that, and specialize it because it is a unique skillset," Barton said.

Also helpful to victims of assault is the school's team consisting of individuals who specialize in fields to better serve the victim.

"One thing the grant has done is that we officially founded our Coordinated Community Response Team, which means we are part of prevention and response efforts of sexual assault / dating violence / domestic violence and stalking, and implementing best practices in prevention and response — not just the best for our students, but also to be an example for our area of Alabama," Pickette said.

In addition to Pickette, Jubenville, and Barton, the university's Title 9 coordinator Jazmin Nunez, and Alison Causey, victim service officer with the District Attorney's office, give valuable expertise to the team.

The department's partnership with Causey means that a member of the DA's office has her own office at department headquarters, bridging a gap between the courthouse side of the legal process and the reporting process.

Causey is posted there at least two days a week — more if needed — to help the victim through the process.

"So when all of these things work together, it provides an environment where the victims feel empowered to be able to report crimes that have happened to them because something's legitimately going to be able to be done about it," Barton said.

Causey's presence there also helps with travel to the courthouse or time management to meet with students when they are available during school hours when the courthouse might be closed.

The campus's Title Nine coordinator, Nunez, said the team hosts regular meetings that teach students and victims of sexual or domestic abuse about prevention as well as options if they are subjected to abuse.

Nunez said many organizations across the campus, such as the band or honors program, will call the team in to present programs. That presentation typically begins by sharing definitions and discussing issues they might see on campus. The second part of the presentation is about resources, reporting, and the different options that students have coming forward.

In addition to the presentations, team members try to incorporate themselves in other events around the campus to introduce themselves to students in a relaxed environment.

The team now consists of mostly women — not a bunch of male cops handling things — a thing Barton said might have been the case a few years ago.

"And maybe that was how things were, not just here but that's just law enforcement in general. Even a year ago it was similar to that here." However, Barton said, "because of these efforts and everybody pitching in and bringing their skills and experiences and the visions that they have to the table, it's a different place now."

Said Jubenville, gesturing to the victim interview room she was sitting in, "There are a lot of police departments that do not have this room."

Barton said it's been a long road toward these partnerships, the new interview space, new training and better practices in preventing or responding to sexual and domestic assault. But the grant has made all of that a reality.

"It's all come together finally. It's like this big plan that's come together so that we have a much better infrastructure in place to respond to these types of things," Barton said.