Colorado's Sexual Assault Response Project
Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, Office for Victims Programs

The Colorado Sexual Assault Response Project (SARP) was developed in response to an identified lack of sexual assault victim accessibility to trained medical forensic examiners in rural areas and difficulties in developing and maintaining a multi-disciplinary team response to sexual assault.

SARP has two primary goals:

  • Develop or enhance existing Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) programs in conjunction with medical-forensic exam programs; and  
  • Develop locally based Medical Forensic Exam Programs (MFEP) throughout rural Colorado for adult and adolescent victims of sexual assault.

Sexual Assault Response Teams
The SART development program provides a locally based coordinator for SART activities, including SART development with a victim-centered, offender focused approach, protocol development for a community wide multi-disciplinary response to sexual assault, relevant training, and developing a process for and conducting case reviews.

Medical Forensic Exam Programs
This program develops locally based, cost-effective, sustainable and victim-centered MFEPs through coordination with local hospital administrators and training of local medical professionals. The training programs, conducted by Colorado Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANE), consist of a basic training that can range from two to eight hours and covers working with sexual assault victims, Colorado law, the provision of medical forensic exams, and courtroom testimony basics. Additional trainings, typically two to four hours long, focus on specific areas such as forensic photography, drug-facilitated sexual assault, and experiential courtroom testimony. SARP is developing a clinical practice training program so medical forensic examiners who have completed the basic training program can acquire clinical experience.

Eight communities, seven of which are rural, currently participate in this project:

  • 6th Judicial District (Archuleta/La Plata/San Juan Counties),
  • 12th Judicial District (San Luis Valley),
  • 17th Judicial District (Adams/Broomfield Counties),
  • 22nd Judicial District (Montezuma/Dolores Counties),
  • Delta and Montrose Counties,
  • Grand County,
  • Gunnison County, and
  • Morgan County.

SARP, based at The Colorado Division of Criminal Justice, Office for Victims Programs, is funded through a federal “Community Defined Solutions” grant from the Office on Violence Against Women. Funding for the Project runs from October 2010 through September 2012. A continuing “Arrest” grant application for funding from October 2012 through September 2014 has been submitted.

For more information, contact the Statewide Coordinator, Terri Livermore, at (303) 239-4546 or terri.livermore@cdps.state.co.us.

LINKS

Oversight Committee Members

Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault: LE Reporting Victims and Medical Reporting Victims