Latest news with #crimevictims
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
PSNI to make video call service for crime victims permanent
A service allowing victims of crime to speak with police officers via video call will become a permanent feature, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has move follows a successful four-week pilot programme, known as Virtual Officer Attendance, which launched in PSNI previously said the introduction of a video call option offers people an alternative to traditional phone calls or in-person visits with police service, delivered by a specialist team at Castlereagh Police Station in Belfast, involves officers who have received dedicated training for virtual engagements. Victims of crime will be able to choose the video call option instead of a telephone or in-person visit, but in-person attendance at a police station is still available if service allows officers to talk to victims, take statements, and collect digital evidence like photos or videos during a secure video pilot scheme was inspired by a similar scheme launched by Dorset Police in England back in 2023. In setting up the pilot, the PSNI said they worked closely with officers in Dorset in order to launch their own scheme in Northern Ireland. Requirements for using video call The victim must be 18 years or older. If the victim is 17 or under, they can still use the service but must have an appropriate adult present during the victim must be involved in a crime where there is no immediate threat, risk, or alleged offender of the reported crime must not be present during the video victim must have access to a smartphone, tablet, or other device with a camera and have access to 4G or Wi-Fi. The service will not use the victim's mobile data allowance, so there is no cost to them.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Yahoo
Employee in Amador County DA's office sues over alleged sex harassment, retaliation
The head of a crime victims and witnesses division in the Amador County District Attorney's Office alleges in a lawsuit that she was sexually harassed by the chief assistant DA. Amy Drake's lawsuit accuses Amador County Chief Assistant DA Sherri Adams of groping her during a meeting with a child sex assault victim and her mother. Solve the daily Crossword
Washington Post
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to stop DOJ grant cancellations
WASHINGTON โ A federal judge has allowed the Trump administration to rescind nearly $800 million dollars in grants for programs supporting violence reduction and crime victims . U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington on Monday denied a preliminary injunction sought by five organizations on behalf of all recipients of the more than 360 grant awards, and granted a motion by the federal government to dismiss the case. Mehta called the Department of Justice's actions 'shameful,' but said the court lacked jurisdiction and the organizations had failed to state a constitutional violation or protection.
Associated Press
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit seeking to stop DOJ grant cancellations
WASHINGTON (AP) โ A federal judge has allowed the Trump administration to rescind nearly $800 million dollars in grants for programs supporting violence reduction and crime victims. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington on Monday denied a preliminary injunction sought by five organizations on behalf of all recipients of the more than 360 grant awards, and granted a motion by the federal government to dismiss the case. Mehta called the Department of Justice's actions 'shameful,' but said the court lacked jurisdiction and the organizations had failed to state a constitutional violation or protection. 'Defendants' rescinding of these awards is shameful. It is likely to harm communities and individuals vulnerable to crime and violence,' Mehta wrote in his ruling. 'But displeasure and sympathy are not enough in a court of law.' The Justice Department's Office of Justice Programs cancelled the grants worth more than $800 million in April, saying it had changed its priorities to, among other things, more directly support certain law enforcement operations, combat violent crime and support American victims of trafficking and sexual assault. A message left seeking comment from Democracy Forward officials was not immediately returned. A Department of Justice spokesperson declined to comment on the ruling. The lawsuit filed by the Democracy Forward Foundation and the Perry Law firm argued that the grant terminations did not allow due process to the organizations and lacked sufficient clarity. The lawyers also said the move violated the constitutional separation of powers clause that gives Congress appropriation powers. Many of the organizations that lost the federal money said the unexpected cancellations mid-stream had meant layoffs, program closures and loss of community partnerships. The five organizations named as plaintiffs sought class status to represent all affected grant recipients. Attorneys General from at least 18 states and the District of Columbia had filed amicus briefs in support of the action, as well as local governments and prosecuting attorneys- several of whom had lost grants for victims programs, alternatives to prosecution programs or others. The Justice Department asked Mehta to dismiss the suit, arguing in a court filing that there was 'no legal basis for the Court to order DOJ to restore lawfully terminated grants and keep paying for programs that the Executive Branch views as inconsistent with the interests of the United States.' Noting that it intended to redirect the grant funds, it called the suit a 'run-of-the mill contract dispute' and said it belonged in a different court.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Yahoo
Meet Toast: Placer County DA welcomes its first court support dog to the team
( Placer County District Attorney's Office has announced its newest employee, Toast, who will serve as a support canine for victims and survivors of crime. PCSDA office said that Toast is a 1-year-old lab and poodle mix and will work across many units within the DA's office, which includes: Victim interviews/meetings Court accompaniment and testimony support Forensic interviews of children Community events Staff support '๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐จ, ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ,' ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ต ๐๐ต๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ. '๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฎ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐จ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ข ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐บ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ.' Devastating Pyrotechnics company releases statement after 24 hours of warehouse explosion in Esparto Toast comes to the PCDAO from All Stage Canine Development, Inc., which is a Citrus Heights-based canine training facility, originally established in 2017, officials said. The owner maintains a team of trainers that focuses on catering to various needs of training facilities and comfort canines for both government agencies and non-profit organizations. PCDAO stated that all SCDs have provided and trained crisis support canines to other law enforcement agencies in the region, which includes Butter, Roseville Police Department's beloved comfort canine. PCDA posted on Facebook, saying that according to a National Library of Medicine report, support dogs help reduce anxiety, heart rate, and blood pressure in victims of trauma, especially children. The focus of their presence has been shown to help victims testify and improve their emotional well-being throughout the legal process. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
