Captain Michael Holt, Jackson Police Department, Jackson, Tennessee: When I started in law enforcement in the early 80s, if you would talk to officers about what they feel after they left a domestic violence call, they always said, "We didn't get to do anything to help." You know, we wanted to strengthen the victim. We wanted to make them resilient, we wanted to make them whole.
DARYL CHANSUTHUS, MSSW, LAPSW, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WO/MEN’S RESOURCE AND RAPE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (WRAP): Captain Holt has helped victims to trust our system, that our system here in Jackson does care.
CAPTAIN HOLT: We began to look at what did it take to get the victim out of the situation. What did it take to make that person safe? When we started the SANE program, there was a secondary component of that, and that was our SART team. We're getting the draft together to get that out to everybody, get y'all's input. We started dispatching the advocate at the same time the SANE nurse came in, the same time the investigator or officers were dispatched, and they all began to work together. And we began to break barriers.
BILL SCOLLON, DIRECTOR, TENNESSEE OFFICE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE PROGRAMS: I think other agencies and other individuals could and should take a page out of his playbook in breaking down silos.
CAPTAIN HOLT: We had to get the community involved. You see, these are crimes—whether it's domestic assault, sexual assault. Our society, the people, said, "This is not acceptable." We formed the Mayor's Advisory Council on Domestic and Sexual Violence. It opened my eyes a lot more to how people saw the system.
JERRY GIST, MAYOR, JACKSON, TENNESSEE: We've got some wonderful partners here. Everything from counseling to medical care to safety for the individuals.
MIKE HOLT: And we were able to incorporate that into what we have now, the development of our Family Justice Center, which we call the Safe Hope Center. We have really contributed to an attitude change amongst our officers. When they leave that call, they know that they have done more to help the victim than just make an arrest or just take a report. Having a supported victim in a criminal case is . . . is awesome.
