A recap of TDIM 2014
A mother who channeled her grief into helping other crime victims was among those honored at the Ohio Attorney General’s 2014 Two Days in May Conference, which drew nearly 1,000 victim advocates for presentations, workshops, and networking. Next year’s conference is May 4–5, 2015, at the Hyatt Regency Columbus.
This year’s honorees
Robert Denton Special Achievement Award: Sherry Nolan’s daughter Shannon was five months pregnant with her first child, a baby girl to be named Alexandra, when Shannon’s husband beat her to death on Sept. 7, 2001. Many groups provided support and gave Nolan the strength to help others. An advocate, mentor, and friend to victims of domestic violence and other crimes in Hamilton County, Nolan works at the national office of Parents of Murdered Children in Cincinnati. She helps victims find resources, navigate court appearances, and share their burdens. Forever connected to her initial motivation, Nolan spends every Sept. 7 serving meals at domestic violence shelters and telling others about Shannon and Alexandra.
Promising Practice Award: The Buckeye Ranch’s Common Ground Program brings peace of mind and increased safety to victims of domestic violence in Franklin County. Seeing an abuser again can prompt stress and sometimes violence, especially when children are involved. Buckeye Ranch created Common Ground in 2009 to fill a significant service gap in Central Ohio and offer parents and children an alternative to visits at fast-food restaurants or exchanges in parking lots.
Additional resources available
More information and a video from the 2014 conference are at
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/TDIM. For details on other trainings and services provided by the Attorney General’s Crime Victim Services Section, visit
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/Victims.
Students get the message not to text and drive
The perils of texting while driving have been demonstrated time and again, often with very tragic outcomes. Still, many teens and adults refuse to shake the habit.
In May, Madison County Sheriff Jim Sabin and staff of the Attorney General’s Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy drove the point home for a dozen students from Madison County’s four high schools: They set up a curvy, 800-foot obstacle course on the OPOTA track, teamed the students with a driving instructor, and put them behind the wheel.
“We put the students in the cars and had them drive through the course while they were being texted, and they had to respond back with texts,” Sabin said. “They’ll be able to provide their first-hand accounts of how they did without the distractions and how they did with the distractions to their fellow students.”
The result? Message received.
“When I was hitting the cones, that could have been a person or another car,” said Madison-Plains High School’s Kaleigh Whitaker. “No text is worth anyone’s life — at all.”
Tailoring the point for peace officers
A new video conveys the human cost of distracted driving, which even law enforcement officers can experience with all the technology in today’s cruisers. The video is at
www.OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov/videos.
Several OPOTA courses — Basic Academy Driving Instructor; Basic Emergency Vehicle Operations; and Vehicle Response, Pursuit and Control Techniques — also cover the topic.
Former assistant U.S. attorney leads Attorney General’s CAC initiative
Brant Cook has been named director of the Attorney General’s Crimes Against Children Initiative.
As a former assistant U.S. attorney with the Southern District of Indiana for five years, he prosecuted crimes against children and other Internet-based crimes and provided education on trends in Internet crimes against children. Before that, he served four years as a Franklin County assistant prosecuting attorney, handling sexual assault and abuse cases involving women and children and other criminal cases.
Attorney General Mike DeWine launched the Crimes Against Children Initiative in late 2011 to step up Ohio’s investigation and prosecution of people who prey on children. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s CAC Unit, formed as part of the initiative, opened 118 cases and assisted 59 agencies in 2012 and opened 125 cases and aided 85 agencies in 2013. The Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions and Crime Victim Services sections also provide assistance to local authorities and victims.
For information: Call 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446) or email
Brant.Cook@OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov.
Sexual Assault Kit Testing Update
Here are results as of mid-June from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, launched in 2012. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s laboratory staff is conducting the testing, which so far has resulted in more than 100 indictments in Cuyahoga County.
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Kits submitted: 7,775
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Kits tested: 3,907
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Agencies submitting kits: 139
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CODIS hits identifying a DNA source or investigative lead: 1,364 (34.9 percent of kits tested)
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For more information or to submit untested kits, call 855-BCI-OHIO (855-224-6446).
Missing Children’s Clearinghouse Report available
The latest information on the status of missing children in Ohio is available at
www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Files/Publications/Publications-for-Victims/Missing-Children-s-Clearinghouse-Reports/2013-Missing-Children-Clearinghouse-Annual-Report.