Tuesday, July 20, 1999

Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Deputies Pamela Dixon and Doris Swift recently participated in the fifth annual National Victim Service Academy, a 45-hour course covering 35 subject areas.

Dixon coordinates the Sheriff’s Crime Victims Assistance Program and Swift administers the Elderly Crime Victims Assistance Program for Caddo Parish.

The academy provided victim service professionals with important updates on victims’ rights and victim services, as well as new developments in the victim assistance field. Topics included child victimization, domestic violence, gang violence, drunk driving, campus crime, financial fraud, international issues in victim service and meeting the needs of under-served victims of crime. Leaders in the fields of victimology, criminal justice and victims’ rights, as well as faculty from co-sponsoring academic institutions taught in the program.

"The Academy gave us some valuable tools for making our local efforts more effective," Dixon said. "We also had the opportunity to share and exchange ideas about our local program with people who operate similar programs around the country," Swift added.

The academy, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crimes, was conducted simultaneously at five universities nationwide. Dixon and Swift were among the participants at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. Other sites were American University’s Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C.; California State University-Fresno; Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, and Washburn University, Topeka, Kan.

The 330 academy students included delegates from every area of the criminal justice system; specialists in sexual assault, domestic violence and child victimization, as well as those who serve elderly victims, survivors of homicide victims and victims of juvenile offenders. Dixon and Swift were selected through a competitive application process.

"Even though academy students come from so many different walks of life," OVC Acting Director Kathryn Turman said, "they are all dedicated to helping victims. The students’ diverse experiences in victim service help inform us, as well as their colleagues."

The course covered the subject areas through lectures, interactive exercises, working groups, computer labs and faculty mentoring groups. Participants were also able to go online to learn about victims services through the use of OVC’s web site – www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc. The academy featured a closing address by U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

Co-sponsors of the academy included the Victim’s Assistance Legal Organization, the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Washburn University and Cal State-Fresno.