Assistance program helps crime victims, witnesses

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott Elliott
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON --  Being a victim of, or witness to, a crime is trauma enough for a person to go through without having to face the ensuing legal quagmire alone, the Air Force’s senior uniformed legal officer said.

The Air Force’s Victim Witness Assistance Program, an offshoot of a federal statute, provides liaison assistance to help people through the gamut of legal processes that follow criminal action.

“No one asks to become a victim or a witness,” said Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Fiscus, judge advocate general. “It can be very scary to be involved because it’s intimidating to have to tell your story to investigators and to a court-martial, and maybe even have it reported in the press.

“What’s good about the VWAP is that our liaisons are there to help (people) through the process; someone who cares about them, who has access to the services they need and can shepherd them through so they understand what’s going on,” he said.

Although VWAP assistance is available to the victims and witnesses of any crime, the general said many people think the program is geared specifically for sexual-assault cases.

“The program is intended to assist victims or witnesses of just about any crime,” General Fiscus said. “If a case is going to court-martial or it’s being investigated by the Office of Special Investigations, then we are available to help locate whatever service (the victim or witness) can use.”

Activation of the program is automatic. Victims and witnesses receive an information sheet from the first responder at the crime scene, usually a security forces Airman or an OSI agent. At base level, this commander’s program is administered by the staff judge advocate’s office.

The general said the program is proactive, but it needs fine-tuning.

“It’s a good program for what it was intended to do,” General Fiscus said. “The flaw in it is that, although numerous agencies provide (people) with services, the coordination among them has not been as good as we would like.”

General Fiscus said Secretary of the Air Force Dr. James G. Roche has established a task force to examine how the Air Force can provide victims with services across the spectrum of their involvement in the system, even if they separate from the military.

“One of the things we found about the system was that sometimes the victim, because they dealt with several agencies, felt they were being handed off,” General Fiscus said. “We want to make sure that we have a system that keeps the victim in contact with a single entity throughout the entire process.”

The liaison helps victims and witnesses obtain legal information and services from medical facilities, family advocacy and chaplains. The liaison also can help victims and witnesses gain access to civilian services.

“We try to make sure they are never left out,” General Fiscus said. “In the end, this is what we say we’re going to do for our folks, and we take great pride in attempting to provide that service to the best of our ability.”