The Ramsey County Sexual Assault Protocol Team (RCSAPT) has been meeting regularly since 1998 to find ways to improve the community response to sexual assault. The mission of the team is to coordinate and implement an interagency response to sexual assault victims which promotes consistency, respect and cultural competency. In 2010, the team began monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of the established protocols. Team members developed and implemented a plan to monitor how sexual assault cases within Ramsey County are reported, investigated, charged and prosecuted.
Protocol Development and Training
Written protocols have been developed for the handling of sexual assault cases, including how the work of each discipline intersects with the others. The protocols continue to be revised and training on the protocols is on-going.
Meetings and membership
The team meets at least ten times per year and has members representing the county attorney's office (both prosecutors and victim-witness advocates), law enforcement, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) programs, Sexual Offense Services of Ramsey County, and other community advocacy groups. The team has provided multiple trainings for member agencies, including Ramsey County's first county-wide sexual assault investigator training and sexual assault nurse examiner training. The team receives technical assistance from the Sexual Justice Violence Institute at the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Through this assistance, the team stays connected with ten other Minnesota multidisciplinary teams with similar missions.
Funding
The team is funded by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, Office of Justice Programs, through their MN SMART (sexual assault multidisciplinary sexual action response team) grant program.