Missoula Police Putting $300,000 Grant to Work in Aiding Sexual Assault Victims

Right now, the Missoula Police Department is spending a portion of a 300,000 dollar grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women.

"One of the big expenditures is the funding for a Crime Victim Advocate to work directly within the Missoula Police Department, embedded right there with detective division in the police department," said Missoula Police Captain Mike Colyer. "So, five days a week, four hours a day, we have a C.V.A. working right there with investigators to provide a number of victim services to people who are victims of domestic and sexual violence."

The new special victim's advocate is Erin Catterton, who already has over 10 cases to work on. Other funds have been directed toward constructing what Collier describes as a “soft” interview room.

"It's a little bit more comfortable, it kind of largely looks like a living room setting," Colyer said. "So, when a victim is not comfortable reporting to the police department in our building, there's an alternate location at the C.V.A.'s office to make that report to law enforcement. Yet, we still capture all of the audio and video recording that we normally would inside our own building. It's also just an extra over-flow resource for us."

The grant will also help cover the cost of after-hours nurses from St. Pats who may be called to do an initial assessment on sexual assault and domestic violence victims.

The $300,000 grant is for a three year period of time. Each year, the police department will receive $100,000.