Sexual Assault Forensic Examiner and Response (SAFE/R) Capacity Building Program in Suffolk County

The Crime Victims Center (CVC) is a New York State Certified Rape Crisis Center. In Suffolk County there was a 40% increase in Rape Victims presenting at Hospitals seeking services from 2016 to 2021 and over 17% increase in sexual assaults reported to police according to the NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services compared to the previous 5-year average. These increases exceed the current capacity of service provision resulting in sexual assault victims seeking forensic examinations being turned away from area hospitals negatively impacting on potential prosecutions, not having timely access to critical services they need, including HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), and to which they are entitled to by law. The current availability for Sexual Assault Victims presenting at local hospitals for a SAFE examination is not available approximately 50% of the time and employs an unreliable volunteer advocacy response. New York State Public Health Law Section 2805-i requires absent exigent circumstances that a victim shall be met by a sexual assault forensic examiner within 60 minutes of arriving at the hospital. Instances of victims being forced to wait hours, or told to leave not shower or change their clothing and return at a later time, occur all too often under the existing system. This failure has resulted in exacerbating victim trauma, the potential loss of valuable evidence and some victims not returning for the SAFE Exam or accessing needed support services. 

The provision of support services in close proximity to the occurrence of the sexual assault reduces long term trauma, including PTSD, increases victim participation in the criminal justice system, and to reduces revictimization. This project will recruit, train and make available on a 24-hour 7 day a week basis Certified Sexual Assault Forensic Examiners and Rape Crisis Counselors to respond to designated Suffolk County Hospitals and provide trauma informed support services for sexual assault victims including forensic, medical, advocacy, mental health and assistance with crime victim compensation. A model of the proposed program has been developed by the CVC that will be successful in meeting the goal that all sexual assault victims in Suffolk County have timely access to SAFE exams and critical support services, and no one in need of those services is ever turned away.  Additionally, this project will offer training to law enforcement officers multi-disciplinary team members and medical providers interacting with sexual assault victims on the neuro-biology of trauma and trauma informed response.