A main issue that continues is staff turnover within Victim Service agencies.  Staff turnover creates difficulty with consistent and continuing knowledge for the Victim Service agencies.  Nebraska has a low unemployment rate, which makes it more difficult to attract and maintain good employees.  Programs find it very hard to provide competitive wages for all employees when compared to other job opportunities.  Those Victim Assistance programs that are in prosecution or law enforcement offices continually keep the city/county board aware of all the positive services the program provides.  The programs keep the boards updated on this information to show the community support of the program and hope this will encourage the boards to allocate more funds for the program in the city/county budget.  However, so many of the city/county boards see the positive parts of the program but do not have the extra funds in the budget to allocate more to the program.





Nebraska has several rural areas that struggle with finding a qualified individual within that area to apply for any open positions.  There continues to be an increase in underserved populations, in particular, limited English proficient victims, that need services.  Due to this increase, there is an ever emerging need to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services.  Programs, at times, struggle with having a qualified, trained pool of individuals that can interpret or translate into the specific dialect of the victim.  This is a major challenge given that the demography of Nebraska continues to change each year.

Victim assistance agencies provide presentations at various functions regarding issues of crime and the provision of services offered.  Many agencies conduct interviews with media and a number have public service announcements airing within their community and greater service area.





In April of each year, victim programs statewide promote National Crime Victims? Rights week, which include activities that involve criminal justice agencies and other community representatives.  In October of each year, Domestic Violence programs promote Domestic Violence Awareness month activities that also involve criminal justice agencies and other community representatives.  





Victim Assistance agencies coordinate with other community agencies as AARP, Hotels and Motels in Partnership, food pantries, HUD/Homeless program, as well as state agencies such as the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, when assisting victims.  Victims programs continue to look for new partnerships to help enhance the services that victims can receive in their area.





Volunteers are also invaluable to the delivery of services as well as a requirement of funding.  Recruiting, coordination, training, and retention of volunteers are ongoing.  Many agencies greatly depend on volunteers to continue meeting victims? needs, 24 hour coverage of crisis lines, and help with the increase of victims needing the program?s services.

The Crime Commission works closely with the United States Attorneys? victim witness unit.  The Director of the United States Attorneys? victim witness unit is also a member of the Nebraska Coalition for Victims of Crime.  Crime Commission staff is involved in this Coalition and continuously works with individuals that are part of the Coalition for different initiatives and activities.  





The Omaha/Douglas County Victim Assistance Unit and the U.S. Attorney?s Office (located in Omaha) are linked to the City of Omaha Intranet.





All VOCA funded programs provide services to victims of federal crimes on the same basis as for victims of state and local crimes.  This is a requirement outlined in the Crime Commission Grant Award Special Conditions.

The Crime Commission staff regularly provides mandatory Grant Management Training.  The Crime Commission has a website that is available to all subgrantees.  The website provides links to required grant forms, grant toolkits, announcements and applications, statewide crime statistics, and other resources for subgrantees and the public.    





A computerized case management system was implemented and allows statistics to be submitted to the Crime Commission electronically.  This allows for more accurate reporting and improvements to program efficiency.  Training on how to use the system is extremely important and is offered to subgrantees.  The Crime Commission continues to make this system available to more victim assistance programs statewide.    





The Victim Information and Notification Everyday (VINE) system is provided funds for continued operation.  Victims may register to be notified of the custody status or change in custody status of their offender.  For the period of October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2008, there were 23,341 calls made to VINE; 1,834 calls confirmed victim notifications regarding the status of an offender; 2,630 emails confirmed victim notifications regarding the status of an offender; and 4,613 new victims registered with the VINE system.  Since 1997 VOCA funds were made available, 21,811 victims have registered with the VINE system.  In 2004, Governor Johanns held a press conference to recognize the 5th Anniversary of VINE and also launched a public service announcement for the VINE System.  VINE is seeking ways and funding to enhance services to victims.  The goal is to increase the number of translated notifications to limited English proficient victims.  Currently, Spanish is the only other language, other than English, that is offered to victims.  Programs were surveyed across the state to see what languages are starting to appear and become widely used in their community.  The different languages identified throughout Nebraska will be the goal for the first step in enhancing the notification system for all victims.








In September 2008, the Protecting Our Children Conference was held and the Nebraska Crime Commission contracted with the Nebraska Sheriffs Association to assist with some of the training.  The two day conference was held to provide instruction on child sexual abuse, child pornography, and child sexual enticement to law enforcement, victim service providers, prosecution, child protective service, probation/parole/corrections, and social workers.  Conference attendance was over 300.





In September 2008, the Victim Assistance Federal Aid Administrator attended the OVC TTAC Cultural Competency Training held in Lincoln, Nebraska.  During the course of the three day training, she prepared and presented to other attendees an expansive list of resources for improving services to limited English proficient clients.  Two training facilitators told her that TTAC will be adding the list she provided to the training manuals for future workshops.

A VOCA funded domestic violence sexual assault program experienced a big problem with a case where the woman was talking to dispatch asking them to respond to her home.  Her abuser grabbed the phone and hung it up.  The dispatch called back and the abuser answered saying that things were fine.  The police were not called and the man held a gun to the woman the entire night.  The program addressed this by calling a meeting with the Dispatch Supervisor, as well as the Chief of Police and provided well-needed training.  Hopefully, this scenario will not occur in the future.  





A VOCA funded Victim Assistance Unit in a County Attorney?s Office in a rural community worked with a victim of incest, not only at trial, but also at sentencing.  What a great relief for her to have that behind her.  The unit also coordinated with a VOCA funded domestic violence sexual assault program in the area to provide services to this client, as well as an interpreter for all proceedings.   





A VOCA funded Victim Assistance Unit in a Police Department in a rural community responded to a call in the middle of the night regarding a domestic shooting/suicide and staff went to the hospital with law enforcement and assisted the family.





A VOCA funded Victim Assistance Unit in a County Attorney?s Office in a rural community assisted in three separate child sexual assault jury trials, which resulted in two convictions and one acquittal.  The victims were girls ranging from 5 to 12 years old.  The Director was present at the depositions and was actively involved in working with the foster and non-offending parents.





A VOCA funded Victim Assistance Unit in a Police Department in an urban community was contacted by an officer who was very concerned about a victim she interviewed.  The woman was in the hospital with injuries not consistent with what she was telling the doctors, claiming her injuries were due to a medical condition, not an assault.  Officers finally got her to talk about being abused by her husband.  The advocate met with her in the hospital and talked with her about a safety plan and how to file a protection order.  She has three daughters that she had tried to shield from seeing the assaultive behavior for several years.  The husband is an alcoholic and mean when he is drinking.  After several interviews, the children stated they did hear yelling and did see their father throw their dog against the fireplace.  They admitted to being very frightened by their father?s behavior.  The husband was subsequently arrested for domestic assault.  The woman did decide to apply for and was granted a protection order.  The advocate drove the woman home from the hospital and had an officer stand by to make sure it was safe for her to be in the house.  The advocate kept in touch with the woman, informing her about the progress of the court cases, and provided emotional support and referrals when needed.


 


A VOCA funded CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) training programs are using the standardized training requirements for all CASA programs that were established by legislation.  All volunteers for CASA must complete the Nebraska CASA Association and National CASA Association training curriculum.  The CASA network is a statewide organization whose volunteers work directly with children who have been adjudicated as victims of abuse or neglect.  A CASA volunteer is assigned to a child victim by a judge and the child is provided with an advocate who directly focuses on the needs of the child.  The CASA volunteer does monitor the case plans from Health and Human Services (HHS) to insure services are being provided in a timely and effective manner for the victim through-out the court process.  CASA volunteers work directly with the child and visit them at home, school, daycare, foster homes, group homes, shelters, etc.  This allows the child to not become a victim again due to the high caseloads for HHS casemanagers, the increased hours of the Guardian At Litem (GAL) Attorney, and the lack of attention to a child?s individual needs.  Through the advocacy that the CASA volunteers do, which is presented in court in form of a report and recommendations that is in the best interest of the child and their individual needs.

The State is under great financial strain right now and agencies have been forced to make large budget reductions.  The state appropriation for the victim compensation program was cut by nearly $200,000 for FY 2002.  This reduced the state appropriation to $20,000.  In May 2004, the CVR Committee decided to reduce the number of crimes that would be eligible for reimbursement.  The focus was on serious crimes which are homicide, sexual assault, child abuse, robbery, domestic violence, arson and kidnapping.  Two legislative bills were introduced in 2005 and 2006 to propose the use of other methods of funding for CVR and both bills failed.  In 2007, it was requested of the Governor?s Budget Office if a deficit could be requested to assist CVR and the request was denied.  In July 2008, the CVR Committee moved to reinstate DUI/DWI claims to be eligible for compensation.  Given the federal compensation award is based on a percentage of how much is paid to victims in state dollars, the compensation fund will be greatly reduced if these funds are not replaced.





Victim service providers are exploring other options to replace the funds through non-appropriated means.  It also appears the increase from 40% to 60% in the compensation formula has affected the amount available for assistance if the VOCA cap is not raised accordingly.  Many VOCA programs receiving continuation funds in 2008 received a 13% reduction in the amount they were awarded in the 2007funding cycle due to a reduction in the federal award.

Funds allow the Crime Commission to hire personnel dedicated specifically to the administration and management of the VOCA program.  Funds also allow VOCA staff to attend local and national training sessions, as well as travel to VOCA programs to conduct grant management training and financial and programmatic monitoring.  Printing costs for the program assists with things such as announcements and applications for grant funds.