Children's Advocacy Centers

[explcdt8]

Does your department use a children's advocacy center for interviewing kids? If so, what do you think of it?

Personally, I wonder about the qualifications of the interviewers, according to the national association, the minimum qualifications range from a MSW + LE experence recommended, to a LGSW or LICSW( Whatever those stand for, I thought it was LCSW) to a Bachelors in Social Work, with "Documented Training".


http://www.nationalcac.org/professio...nterviewer.doc

[realpolice]

Are you referring to children in serious abuse cases, i.e. rape?

[explcdt8]

Well, I thought that they were used mainly for offenses committed by a family member, but I guess non-family offenses are handled there as well.

[Jay7376]

Yes, my department utilizes the services of a child advocacy center.

Other than that, I have no knowledge of how they operate as our detectives observe, not the lowly patrol office.

As for the qualifications of the interviewer, well, I would dare say that they are much more qualified than any police officer who has received minimal training in the protocols of interviewing child victims.

[explcdt8]

Maybe I should have been clearer about qualifications. I meant about from a law enforcement standpoint. I would think, if interviewing kids about crimes, they would need to know something about law enforcement. I'm not too sure what kind of training someone with a Bachelor's of Social Work receives in law enforcement. Plus there is an issue in regards to how questions are asked. People with counseling degrees are trained to draw out information in a specific way ie. leading questions , which may not be the way that would be acceptable in a criminal court.

[Rad Diver]

We have our ways, but I can't tell you.....cause......:D

[Jay7376]

Plus there is an issue in regards to how questions are asked. People with counseling degrees are trained to draw out information in a specific way ie. leading questions , which may not be the way that would be acceptable in a criminal court.

That is there are extremely stringent protocols in place for the interviewing of children. The average road patrol officer, or even detective for that matter, does not have the required training.

The interviewers at the CAC have been extensively trained on how to ask non-leading questions.

The CAC is much more qualified than the average officer because of the training that they have received, which is LE specific.

As always, I am only refering to how things work in my neck of the woods.

[mcsap]

Our DA's office has people trained just for this issue. We are NOT to interview kids on serious charges.

[explcdt8]

That's good you have specialized resources, my county has NOTHING, heck, we still have PD's that close at midnight. Which is kind of scary, considering my county has 350,000 people in it. They have a Sex Abuse Task Force, which is made up of 6 LEO's and one CPS worker, but they mainly do case management, and the FBI Resident Agency has a soft room (supposedly, because they always interview kids at the local fast-food places:eek, but as you can imagine, the FBI is not going to get involved in every local case that comes up.

I guess the best one can hope for is that the PD's personnel are appropriatley trained, or, that they will hand it over to the State Police.

[DeltaV]

Florida has a Child Abuse Investigations course that is 40 hours long and gives officers the basic tools they need to interview children in these types of investigations. There's also another 40 hour advanced course. CAIs are supposed to conduct the interviews on child abuse and sexual battery cases involving children.