Press Releases

Sheriff starts Sexual Assault Response Team

Monday, September 17, 2007

The Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office has been awarded a federal grant from the Office of Violence Against Women, in collaboration with Stuller Place, to develop the Lafayette Parish Sexual Assault Response Team (LPSART). Additional partners in this project are the District Attorney's Office of the 15th Judicial District, Lafayette Police Department, and the Acadiana Crime Lab.

Implementation of LPSART will assist in the response to sexual assault victims and the opportunity to access the latest training and equipment that aid in the investigation and prosecution of sex offenders.

Through this initial award of $213,612 over two years, the project will: 1) establish an advisory team composed of liaisons from each of the participating agencies; 2)train law enforcement, victim advocates, crime lab specialists and prosecutors in the multi-disciplinary response to disclosure of sexual assault and on the activities and skills that support the goals of the LPSART; 3) develop and implement procedures for information sharing among agencies participating in the SART process; 4) equip forensic investigators and forensic nurse examiners with up-to-date forensic equipment that will aid in investigating sexual assault crimes; 5) support forensic investigator overtime for sexual assault cases; and 6) support a SART administrator to centralize information sharing, provide data entry and database maintenance, case tracking, report development and distribution, and convening monthly SART multi-disciplinary team meetings.


Lt. Craig Stansbury
Public Information Officer
Lafayette Parish Sheriff Office
236-5876