Why Law Enforcement Organizations Should Use a Victim-Centered Approach
Addressing victims’ needs isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s critical to the law enforcement mission.
By Guest Author: Andrew Block, former Policy Analyst at the US Department of Homeland Security
The victim-centered approach starts with a straightforward idea: law enforcement should focus attention on “the victim’s choice, safety, and well-being and how the needs of the victim are everyone’s concern,” as the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) explains in its Enhancing Law Enforcement Response to Victims (ELERV) Strategy.
The common-sense notion at the heart of this approach is that victims who feel safe and supported are more likely to stay involved in the criminal justice process, and this participation helps investigators resolve cases.
The victim-centered approach isn’t a niche movement. Under federal sponsorship, IACP has served as the training and technical assistance provider for 80 law enforcement-based victim services programs (as of 2023). Participating organizations span state, local, tribal, and campus law enforcement. Such widespread interest signals the benefits that agencies of all kinds see in this approach.
What Does a Victim-Centered Approach Look Like?
Implementation may vary across agencies, but key principles include:
Address immediate needs. Identify urgent physical, psychological, and emotional needs and connect victims with appropriate stabilization resources.
Be trauma-informed and culturally responsive. Interactions should be respectful, non-judgmental/non-blaming, and sensitive to how trauma and cultural differences can affect communication and behavior.
Give victims choices. Explain options to victims and allow them to proceed at their own pace, rather than treating them as passive participants.
Prioritize protection over punishment. Preventing further harm should remain central, even as a comprehensive investigation moves forward. For example, sex workers may be crime victims under certain circumstances. Such individuals may have participated only due to force, fraud, or coercion, making them human trafficking victims in need of protection.
Turning Principles into Practice
Putting these ideas into practice requires more than a single training session. Agencies can:
Designate victim-support liaisons to connect victims with medical, mental health, housing, and other local services.
Develop a cadre of trauma-informed interviewing specialists who understand how trauma can affect memory, behavior, and communication.
Revise internal regulations so that victim-centered principles become an official part of policies and operations. Just as importantly, department leaders should explain to personnel how these practices reinforce, rather than distract from, the agency’s public-safety mission.
Align external communications with the same principles. The language agencies use in press releases, social media posts, websites, and public statements should reinforce dignity for victims and strive to build trusting relationships with the broader community.
Beyond Law Enforcement
Use of the victim-centered approach extends beyond law enforcement agencies. Schools and youth-serving organizations often employ victim-centered methods to provide supportive resources to victims and give them control over decisions that affect them. Crucially, in communities where violence can trigger cycles of retaliation, focusing on building trust with at-risk individuals and connecting them with support may help interrupt those cycles. Offering victims and community members tools to address acute trauma and distress, and demonstrating how to resolve conflicts peacefully, can prevent anger from festering into retaliation or revictimization.
In Washington, DC, the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement (ONSE) aims to reduce retaliatory gun violence by meeting a community’s physical and mental health needs. To that end, ONSE works to connect victims – as well as those at risk of becoming a victim or perpetrator – to critical resources and services, and tries to change dangerous behavior through trust-building and counseling. The linchpin is specialized “Violence Interrupters” who hail mainly from neighborhoods with a history of violence, and who use trauma-informed principles to engage individuals. While a direct link has not been proven, data show that communities designated by ONSE as priority neighborhoods collectively experienced slower growth in rates of overall violent crime and gun-related violent crime compared to citywide figures in 2023, a particularly violent year in Washington.
Key Takeaway
The lesson is broader than any single sector: people are more likely to engage with systems when those systems recognize their needs, respect their choices, and help them feel safe. For law enforcement, building those principles into daily practice supports the mission and can lead to better outcomes for victims, investigators, and communities.
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Andrew Block is a former analyst with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. This post is written in his personal capacity and is not intended to represent the positions of the U.S. government.
Learn more about Andrew's work via LinkedIn or at BrassTacksWriting.com.
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