IDAHO FALLS — The Idaho Falls Police Department recently announced the creation of a new special victims unit during a city council meeting on July 7.
The action comes as a response to the growing frequency of sex crimes in the city, despite violent crimes as a whole decreasing.
The new special victims unit was formed on June 29, according to Idaho Falls Police Capt. Brian Trimble.
As far as Trimble is aware, the IFPD special victim’s unit is the first of it’s kind in eastern Idaho.
“It depends on the on the case, obviously, but some (sex crimes cases) would take, you know, three hours to resolve based on maybe witness cooperation or lack of evidence, or they can take up to 40 hours to resolve, and that’s based on, interviews with suspects, evidence collection, that type of thing, to bring a case to to a level where it’s ready to be charged by the prosecuting attorney’s office,” Trimble said.
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He continued, “So what this will allow us to do is for those detectives to streamline those cases to where they get completed faster. So one officer could be working on a search warrant while the other one is working on perhaps a forensic interview of a child.”
The unit was formed with two senior detectives from the department who had previously been handling the majority of the sex crimes. Being fully assigned to the unit now allows them to commit all of their time and expertise to solving these crimes in the best manner possible. Both detectives assigned to the unit specifically requested it.
“I think it will really increase the efficiency these cases are handled,” Trimble said.
Trimble hopes that in the future, the Idaho Falls Police department will have the resources to continue expanding the special victims unit. Ideally, he’d like to see the unit get more officers and more resources.
“As the department continues to grow, I believe that so will the members of this unit. I don’t think that this is going to simply disappear. I think they’re going to do conduct professional investigations. They’re going to have several cases that are built and made against individuals, and people are going to be held accountable for those actions,” Trimble said.
Trimble also noted that, as of July 1, a new law has gone into effect that will require mandatory minimum sentencing for aggravated sexual abuse of a child.
“I think that the legislature is listening to the people when they hear the frustrations, and they see some of the deficiencies that were there prior,” said Trimble.
The department emphasized that these are not new resources being used to create the special victims unit. This is a reallocation of resources from other areas of the police department. Creating this unit, though, allows for more specialization.
“The criminal justice world is complex, and there’s a lot to it. So when you have detectives that specialize, or you know, any other officer that specializes in area, they get to know it really well. And so they become experts in that. There’s additional training and resources that we can give them there,” said department spokeswoman Jessica Clements.
The special victims unit will also continue to work with outside resources, like victim advocacy groups. The department has it’s own victims services coordinator, but they also work with groups like the Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Intervention Center in Idaho Falls and the Upper Valley Child Advocacy Center in Rigby.
“Hopefully we can reduce (sex crimes), hopefully we can make a difference for some of the lives of these victims. But the need will definitely be there as long as the … sex assault caseload continues to increase,” Trimble said.
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