October 24, 2018

Sexual assault response team gains national attention

Sexual assault response team gains national attention

By Betsy Ryan
Farmer Staff Writer

Created in 2013, the McKenzie County Sexual Response Team (SART) has drastically improved services for the 28 victims of sexual assault in McKenzie County since its inception. And in the process, the local SART is gaining national notoriety.
“We have seen the number of sexual assaults in the county rise every year since 2013,” says Jennifer Winter, Watford City Victim Advocate. “In retrospect, we organized our SART in the nick of time.”
In 2016, McKenzie County’s SART signed into place a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which designated the roles of each sexual assault responder on the team including local law enforcement, health care, victim advocates and the county’s state’s attorney’s office.
Since the adoption of the MOU, Winter said that the county has seen a streamline of services and a better experience for victims in their most vulnerable time after an assault.
As responders have taken steps like bringing all team members together so that the victim need only tell their story once, victims have been less traumatized and have felt more safe.

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