Campus Safety Director of the Year finalist and Trinity University Police Chief Paul Chapa requires his officers to receive additional training on how to appropriately respond to campus sexual assaults. As a result, his officers are more engaged with the community, and more victims are willing to share information on incidents.With there now being greater awareness about the prevalence of sexual assault in campus communities, many victim advocates believe that police officers responding to these cases must receive specialized training so they will respond appropriately. This philosophy has been embraced by CS Director of the Year Finalist and Trinity University Police Chief Paul Chapa.

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A number of the officers in his department serve as sexual assault victim advocates. In addition to receiving traditional law enforcement training on things like firearms, several Trinity police officers have learned the special skills needed to respond to sexual assault claims, including empathy, compassion and understanding. They have also learned to ask the right questions and provide the right information during these highly sensitive investigations.

Chapa believes the results of this approach have been better officer engagement with the community and greater willingness of victims to share information about incidents.
In this podcast, the chief explains some of the specifics of his department’s program.

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