The Texas/Mexico border is often susceptible to exploitation by offenders who seek to capitalize off the vulnerability of individuals who work, reside, or travel between the two territories, primarily women and children. With this susceptibility is the need to have specialized investigations and staunch prosecutions to hold gender-based offenders accountable. This workshop will provide an overview of current trends involving criminal activity in the Texas/Mexico border region, with a focus towards felony offenses committed by criminal organizations and their associates that target women and children.  Human trafficking, an update of Texas legislative action impacting the border region, and a “Look Ahead” to the 89th Texas Legislative Session will also be discussed.  

Arkansas, a predominantly rural state, is ranked 10th in the nation for high domestic violence rates, 4th in the nation for women murdered by men, and ranked 2nd in the nation for rape. As of 2024, Arkansas is noted as having 2,331 reported rapes (77 rapes per 100k people). The presenter has hands-on, direct experience conducting sexual assault investigations in rural areas of Arkansas and works collaboratively with victim advocates within an Arkansas-based advocacy coalition. As such,  recognizing that as law enforcement work various angles of an investigation, accurate and reliable documentation by police officers is essential. Moreover, the crucial impact of language in documenting a survivor’s experience is important to having a successful investigation. This workshop will focus on providing law enforcement officers, investigators, and other service professionals with the skills and knowledge required to write thorough and effective sexual assault police reports. The presenter will walk through the entire investigative process with attendees from the initial introduction and information gathering to typing the report, ensuring participants build a strong foundation in the pursuit of justice. 

In the rural precincts of Pitt County, North Carolina, intimate partner violence was a contributing factor in 50% of Pitt County’s femicide cases. The presenter of this workshop who has extensive experience investigating crimes that occur within rural jurisdictions can attest to the fact that law enforcement in rural communities face numerous challenges in effectively responding to gender-based violence. Limited personnel and resources can significantly impede response times. Additionally, isolation of victims, coupled with the close-knit nature of rural communities, can make it difficult for victims to report crimes and seek help. Moreover, staying current with evolving best practices is a persistent challenge due to limited access to training and information. This comprehensive workshop will address these unique complexities by providing practical suggestions and strategies for rural law enforcement in their response and investigation of these cases. The presenter will focus on enhancing the overall response to these crimes, from initial contact to follow-up, and emphasizes the importance of a victim-centered approach. Furthermore, the presenter will share effective methods to increase the safety of victims, officers, and communities, including techniques for improving communication and coordination with local resources and support services. Best practices for evidence collection and documentation, critical for building strong cases and improving victim safety and offender accountability will also be discussed. 

Human trafficking can occur in every jurisdiction, but it will look different depending on the unique aspects of a community. In rural and resort communities, traffickers can exploit specific individual and situational vulnerabilities to facilitate sex and labor trafficking. Factors like isolation, the transient nature of victims and witnesses, and the pressure to protect local economies create substantial barriers to identifying and investigating these crimes. Additionally, the harmful “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” mindset further complicates efforts. This workshop will focus on how to build a coordinated response across jurisdictional boundaries to combat human trafficking in rural and resort communities. The presenter will facilitate discussions around the complexities of serving victims who may be exploited in one community and return to another, and provide practical strategies to enhance the identification, investigation, and prosecution of sex and labor trafficking in communities exploited by traffickers hoping to escape accountability.

This workshop is tailored for legal, law enforcement, and advocacy audiences.

According to the U.S. Census, Vermont is the most rural state in the country with 65% of its residents living in rural communities. Furthermore, studies reveal that challenges such as unemployment, substance use, and violence tend to flourish in rural towns where resources and access to services are limited. In Vermont, 47% of homicides between 1994-2021 were domestic violence related. The presenter, a digital forensic investigator who has served in law enforcement capacities in rural Vermont has witnessed that it is an all-too-common scenario: a victim has reported a serious crime. Once a serious crime has been reported, time is a precious resource. An investigator may only get one opportunity to identify and secure digital evidence. How do we quickly identify and preserve valuable evidence on the victim’s mobile device? Can we find and consider opportunities to preserve and acquire cloud evidence? In this workshop, the presenter will walk through those first critical moments to ensure we make the right decisions to identify and secure evidence, all while working to support and empower the victim throughout the evidence collection process.  

This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences. 

In 2023, Kentucky (with 44% of its residents living in rural areas) published its first statewide domestic violence (DV) report with alarming statistics. In 2022, 8,867 arrests were made for incidents involving DV, and 16,402 emergency protective orders were served by State Police. What is often overlooked is the role of the dispatcher who is often the first person to be in contact with either the victim or someone rendering aid to the victim via phone. The presenter of this workshop has experience both as a law enforcement (LE) officer and as a certified telecommunicator in a rural city of Kentucky and has witnessed that when police show up on the scene to render aid, establish order, and ensure safety, many times, the dispatcher can be forgotten and no longer considered an integral part of the response. However, LE heavily relies on telecommunicators to gather and share as much detailed information as possible within a very short period and within heightened emotional circumstances. This workshop will delve into the hazards that come with responding to and handling DV-related incidents. The presenter will explore why victims may choose to remain in such situations and discuss other relevant DV-related statistics. Additionally, the presenter will evaluate methods through which telecommunicators can contribute to preventing responder injuries and fatalities during these routine calls for service.

 This workshop is tailored for first responder and advocacy audiences. 

Within Arkansas, 54 out of 75 counties are considered rural, with Arkansas ranking high for domestic and sexual violence and ranking 2nd in the nation for rapes. The presenter has hands-on, direct experience conducting sexual assault investigations in rural areas of Arkansas and works collaboratively with victim advocates within an Arkansas-based advocacy coalition also has intimate knowledge about how responding to a sexual assault is often a dreaded call for patrol officers.  Uncertainty about what to say, how to say it, and what information and evidence are needed to make a report and open an investigation are just a few of the concerns. The patrol officer’s response to a sexual assault call is foundational in building a solid investigation that can lead to a successful prosecution, holding the perpetrator accountable for their actions, and opening a path of healing for the survivor. This workshop will provide strategies on how to equip attendees with the confidence and skills needed to better communicate with survivors founded on victim-centered and trauma-informed best practices, gather increased amounts of pertinent information, and enhance the level of evidence being collected.  

 This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences. 

Employees in the tribal gaming and hospitality industries are in a unique position to recognize and report potential human trafficking activities because they regularly interact with guests and the greater public in general. Hotels and motels are major locations where traffickers force sex trafficking victims to provide commercial sex acts to paying customers.

In this workshop, the presenter will discuss how the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) is working with tribes, tribal gaming enterprises, and federal agencies on combatting human trafficking and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP). The presenter will also highlight resources, training and technical assistance, case studies, and best practices on combatting human trafficking and addressing MMIP. Robust call-to-action strategies and resources to combat human trafficking will also be shared.

Sexual assaults that happen in the border region and are perpetrated in the riverbanks or in human stash houses rarely have an identified suspect. Typically, the victims of these sexual assaults are taken to the forensic unit to collect a rape kit, however, those kits remain pending in the Texas Department of Public Safety Lab because there is no suspect DNA to match. Additionally, sexual assault victims that are being smuggled through our borders face barriers in accessing victim assistance because all services are tied to the criminal justice process, and movement restriction because they cannot cross the checkpoint lawfully to access more services. Many of them are trapped within a 100-mile radius of an underserved, rural area. The presenter will share strategies on how to assist victims in these situations and eliminate barriers for them.  Sexual assault victims’ rights, the rape kit tracking system, forensic exams, immigration relief, and available victim services, even if there is not an investigation or prosecution of the case will be discussed.

This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences. 

As many people travel for vacation, getaways, family visits, or work-related business in coastal cities and resort towns, alcohol is often a staple used to relax, celebrate, or seal a deal. However, studies and experience also reveal that alcohol is the cheap, legal, culturally acceptable intoxicant that is present in many sexual assaults that also results in victims being more vulnerable, causes gaps in their memories, makes them less likely to report the assault, and less likely to be believed. Additionally, victims of alcohol-facilitated sexual assault may not be able to provide a complete account of the assault or may only have suspicions or heard rumors of what happened to them. Conversely, perpetrators of sexual assault use alcohol or drugs as a weapon to create or exploit vulnerabilities in their victims and will use their own intoxication as a shield to deflect responsibility. This workshop will examine the role alcohol plays in facilitating sexual violence by increasing victim vulnerability and blurring the lines of consent. The presenter will focus on investigative and prosecution strategies for supporting victims of alcohol-facilitated sexual assault and uncovering and identifying predatory behavior.  

 This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences. 

In the water, at the beach is where this workshop will take place! Most times, open water locations like rivers, lakes, and oceans are associated with serenity, relaxation, or fun but unfortunately, these locales are also places where women and children are killed and whose deaths are staged as accidents or suicides. When investigators respond to a crime scene involving water, several questions are inevitable… Is this an accidental drowning? Was she homicidally drowned? Is this strangulation staged as suicidal drowning? Or is this postmortem body disposal? Just as fire investigators and crash reconstructionists need training to recognize, identify, document, and investigate their respective scenes, anyone working cases involving pools or open water scenes need training on the realities of what happens to living and dead bodies in water. This includes the drowning process, how to determine truthfulness and deception during interviews, processing aquatic scenes, recovering small, submerged evidence, packaging submerged bodies, processing submerged evidence for prints and DNA, and more.  

This interactive session provides hands-on skill practical drills that include optional in-water experiences and is valuable for law enforcement, CSI’s, aquatic first responders, prosecutors, and anyone who would work aquatic crimes against women cases.  

Trafficking is extremely prevalent in both surprising and expected situations such as at a local high school, within a family-owned business, in a religious space, or at a national sporting event. Activity in coastal cities, resort communities, and rural towns are no exception. While difficult to detect and even harder to prosecute, many traffickers are particularly able to avoid capture when operating in specific areas that experience a sudden and overwhelming influx of tourists, vacationers, or seasonal retirees. As investigators confront the numerous components that enable human trafficking to occur, intersectionality is a critical piece to consider along with in-depth insight and knowledge regarding the environmental elements that allow for trafficking to exist and even flourish. Therefore, breaking the triangle is heavily reliant on understanding and engagement. The presenter of this workshop will discuss emerging trends, push/pull factors, disrupting vulnerabilities and contributing geographical and community drivers related to human trafficking.  

This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences. 

Within resort and border communities in particular is the pervasive opportunity for violent victimization of victim/survivors by perpetrators, both of whom are frequently transitory, and which requires a multi-disciplinary approach to keep victim/survivors safe and hold offenders accountable. This workshop will address these issues along with discussing violence education, awareness, and prevention programming; jurisdictional and confounding challenges from Title IX and Clery federal legislation; issues of consent and competency; and potential privacy issues in non-hotel/motel settings. The discussion panel will include campus and community advocates, campus law enforcement, counselors, Title IX administrators, and research faculty. Panelists will discuss successes and challenges in the aforementioned areas, with an emphasis on the potential applicability of peer education in both student and elderly vacationing populations, campus-community SARTs, and the importance of communication amongst stakeholders committed to safety, education, prevention, and survivor/victim support.

This workshop is tailored to advocates, campus safety, prosecutors, and other first responders.

Coerced debt is a form of financial abuse when an abuser obtains credit using the survivor’s identifying information through force, threat, or fraud. Additionally, this particular abuse often intersects with the predatory practice of identity theft. The presenter will discuss this intersection as well as explore policies and legal remedies supporting survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking experiencing coerced debt.

When law enforcement is investigating a homicide case, relying on suspect cooperation can be challenging and frustrating as the questioning portion of the investigation can be compromised by such characteristics as arrogance, deceit, sadism, anger, criminality, or fear. Therefore, being able to extrapolate as much information as possible from a suspect to ensure victim and public safety, holding an offender accountable, and hopefully obtaining justice for survivors is crucial. The presenter of this workshop will discuss how to legally and strategically use communication techniques to build rapport with individuals, which can increase the likelihood of a successful interview/interrogation.

Many times, in coastal cities and resort communities where residents are visiting or transient, a crime can occur in that place and then the offender will flee to their original city or state of residency. The nuanced details about the crime can be compromised as cases become plagued with jurisdictional and victim accessibility challenges. Expert witnesses help courts understand the complexities of domestic and sexual violence, including why victim-survivors and offenders do what they do.  Law enforcement, advocates, therapists, forensic nurses and others have the education, training and experience to qualify as an expert witness in interpersonal violence cases. This workshop will address qualifying as an expert and creating a curriculum vitae. The presenters will share strategies on how legal teams can prepare to testify, provide insight into what prosecutors are looking for in a testimony, and how to remain calm, cool and collected under cross examination.  

This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences. 

Labor and sex trafficking is a complex, pervasive problem and public safety issue that has had a devastating impact on victims and their families as well as on law enforcement and the communities that they serve. In some states that have borders with other countries and direct access to large bodies of water, those jurisdictions are especially susceptible to this specific type of exploitation. In Texas, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline, there have been 9,615 cases of human trafficking with 22,451 victims identified. Furthermore, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reports for Texas that after the development of implementation plans, 3,655 trafficking-related arrests have been made with DHS having supported over 1,000 trafficking-related indictments and 600 prosecutions. By highlighting several trafficking cases, the presenter of this workshop will provide an overview of the work DHS does to help combat sex and labor trafficking with a specific focus on trafficking involving the border and will discuss the various programs and policies that the DHS has implemented such as a forensic interview program, a victim assistance program, and a legal program geared towards trafficked undocumented immigrants. Strategies for local and federal collaboration regarding human trafficking investigations will also be discussed.  

 This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences. 

Employees in the tribal gaming and hospitality industries are in a unique position to recognize and report potential human trafficking activities because they regularly interact with guests and the greater public in general. Hotels and motels are major locations where traffickers force sex trafficking victims to provide commercial sex acts to paying customers.

In this workshop, the presenter will discuss how the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) is working with tribes, tribal gaming enterprises, and federal agencies on combatting human trafficking and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP). The presenter will also highlight resources, training and technical assistance, case studies, and best practices on combatting human trafficking and addressing MMIP. Robust call-to-action strategies and resources to combat human trafficking will also be shared.

As tourists and partygoers flock to resorts, hotels, and waterfronts, the opportunity to exploit and commit crimes increases significantly, especially for women and vulnerable populations where gender-based offenses in these heavily populated areas are able to flourish. With strangulation being one of the most lethal forms of intimate partner violence and with offenders taking advantage of the opportunity to engage in violence in areas like cabanas and beaches where surveillance may be compromised, the likelihood of both fatal and non-fatal strangulation is very high. This workshop will examine the various roles that strangulation plays in crimes against women where the dangerous and deadly nature of asphyxiation provides a weapon for perpetrators of sexual violence and intimate partner abuse.  The presenter will explore the significant risk factors associated with this form of violence and the nuances of how perpetrators use strangulation to blur the lines between consent and compliance. 

 This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences. 

Many offenders evade apprehension and justice because of the intricacies related to investigating crimes and/or prosecuting offenders where multiple jurisdictions are involved. In areas along the coast or in resort/rural towns, interagency data collection, communication, and collaboration is especially crucial. Established by the DOJ in 1985, the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program (ViCAP) serves law enforcement agencies across the nation by providing a free repository for behavioral and investigative information related to the following solved and unsolved violent crimes: Homicides, Sexual Assaults, Missing Persons, and Unidentified Human Remains. Additionally, ViCAP is currently embedded within the Behavioral Analysis Unit Crimes Against Adults within the FBI. In this workshop, the presenter will review the origins of ViCAP, the current mission, and present a case study of law enforcement effectively utilizing ViCAP as an investigative resource. Because Texas law enforcement agencies are under a mandate to enter sexual assault cases, we will discuss Molly Jane’s Law and the requirements for Texas law enforcement.  

This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences; not for victims nor the media.  

Have you wondered if someone might be in a domestic violence relationship or situation but you are not quite sure? Did you worry that she may or may not be suffering? Once determined that she might be in danger, do you question how you may get her access to resources and services? How about finding yourself feeling frustrated while working with a victim of domestic violence? Ever thought to yourself… “Why won’t she listen?” This workshop will discuss typical reactions from victims that may affect their ability and/or willingness to participate in the investigation, prosecution, or therapeutic process based on where they are at in the stages of change. The presenter will also lay out practical ways to address these reactions and overcome barriers to communicate with victims of domestic violence more effectively. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and practice effective phrasing and approaches using hypothetical scenarios. 

Gender-based violence is a pattern crime requiring careful documentation by law enforcement and other responders, however, too often reports are written with minimal details leaving many questions. This is particularly challenging for prosecutors who often read the case, for the first time, moments before a bail hearing or arraignment begins. Communication with reports is very powerful. Victims, media, and many others read these reports, and the language used can make those readers feel empowered or re-victimized. This workshop will analyze how police, medical, and other official reports have the potential to make or break a case. The presenter will explore descriptive language that can better paint a picture of the facts for the reader and will highlight ways in which documentation can empower or re-victimize victims of these crimes. What tools can be utilized to ensure more effective documentation will also be discussed.  

This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, medical, and advocacy audiences. 

Texas Forensic Nurse Examiners: The Forensic Center of Excellence (TXFNE) was established in March 2019 as Texas’s pioneering community-based victim service center rooted in forensic nursing. TXFNE offers comprehensive forensic nursing services, advocacy, and counseling, and notably launched the groundbreaking Adult Forensic Interviewing (AFI) program. By 2022, TXFNE expanded its footprint with satellite programs in the Rio Grande Valley and North Texas, aiming to address diverse regional needs simultaneously. The presenter will explore how the managing of forensic nursing teams across different demographics presents unique challenges and will share strategies for overcoming them. Additionally, this workshop will delve into the program’s inception, evolution, and the impact of its innovative approach. As financial sustainability remains a perpetual concern for nonprofit organizations, especially those in forensic nursing embedded within hospital systems, the presenter will provide insight into TXFNE’s journey towards achieving financial independence, sustainability, and scalability, offering a replicable model for similar initiatives.  

This workshop is tailored for forensic nursing, clinical, and advocacy audiences. 

Within resort and border communities in particular is the pervasive opportunity for violent victimization of victim/survivors by perpetrators, both of whom are frequently transitory, and which requires a multi-disciplinary approach to keep victim/survivors safe and hold offenders accountable. This workshop will address these issues along with discussing violence education, awareness, and prevention programming; jurisdictional and confounding challenges from Title IX and Clery federal legislation; issues of consent and competency; and potential privacy issues in non-hotel/motel settings. The discussion panel will include campus and community advocates, campus law enforcement, counselors, Title IX administrators, and research faculty. Panelists will discuss successes and challenges in the aforementioned areas, with an emphasis on the potential applicability of peer education in both student and elderly vacationing populations, campus-community SARTs, and the importance of communication amongst stakeholders committed to safety, education, prevention, and survivor/victim support.

This workshop is tailored to advocates, campus safety, prosecutors, and other first responders.

Coerced debt is a form of financial abuse when an abuser obtains credit using the survivor’s identifying information through force, threat, or fraud. Additionally, this particular abuse often intersects with the predatory practice of identity theft. The presenter will discuss this intersection as well as explore policies and legal remedies supporting survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking experiencing coerced debt.

In 2023, Kentucky (with 44% of its residents living in rural areas) published its first statewide domestic violence (DV) report with alarming statistics. In 2022, 8,867 arrests were made for incidents involving DV, and 16,402 emergency protective orders were served by State Police. What is often overlooked is the role of the dispatcher who is often the first person to be in contact with either the victim or someone rendering aid to the victim via phone. The presenter of this workshop has experience both as a law enforcement (LE) officer and as a certified telecommunicator in a rural city of Kentucky and has witnessed that when police show up on the scene to render aid, establish order, and ensure safety, many times, the dispatcher can be forgotten and no longer considered an integral part of the response. However, LE heavily relies on telecommunicators to gather and share as much detailed information as possible within a very short period and within heightened emotional circumstances. This workshop will delve into the hazards that come with responding to and handling DV-related incidents. The presenter will explore why victims may choose to remain in such situations and discuss other relevant DV-related statistics. Additionally, the presenter will evaluate methods through which telecommunicators can contribute to preventing responder injuries and fatalities during these routine calls for service.

 This workshop is tailored for first responder and advocacy audiences. 

Employees in the tribal gaming and hospitality industries are in a unique position to recognize and report potential human trafficking activities because they regularly interact with guests and the greater public in general. Hotels and motels are major locations where traffickers force sex trafficking victims to provide commercial sex acts to paying customers.

In this workshop, the presenter will discuss how the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) is working with tribes, tribal gaming enterprises, and federal agencies on combatting human trafficking and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP). The presenter will also highlight resources, training and technical assistance, case studies, and best practices on combatting human trafficking and addressing MMIP. Robust call-to-action strategies and resources to combat human trafficking will also be shared.

Sexual assaults that happen in the border region and are perpetrated in the riverbanks or in human stash houses rarely have an identified suspect. Typically, the victims of these sexual assaults are taken to the forensic unit to collect a rape kit, however, those kits remain pending in the Texas Department of Public Safety Lab because there is no suspect DNA to match. Additionally, sexual assault victims that are being smuggled through our borders face barriers in accessing victim assistance because all services are tied to the criminal justice process, and movement restriction because they cannot cross the checkpoint lawfully to access more services. Many of them are trapped within a 100-mile radius of an underserved, rural area. The presenter will share strategies on how to assist victims in these situations and eliminate barriers for them.  Sexual assault victims’ rights, the rape kit tracking system, forensic exams, immigration relief, and available victim services, even if there is not an investigation or prosecution of the case will be discussed.

This workshop is tailored for law enforcement, prosecutorial, and advocacy audiences. 

The origins of the Domestic Violence movement are rooted in a “get her out and hide her” reaction.  Due to the laws of the times, lack of resources, etc., these grassroots efforts were integral in saving many victims of domestic violence.  But does getting her out and hiding her really lead to healing, safety, and self-sufficiency?  In this workshop, the presenter will discuss the barriers to victims seeking safety from an abusive relationship and question whether emergency shelter services should be the go-to recommendation to victims.  Alternative options such as safety planning, long term exit planning, and transitional living programs will also be explored.