LAPD NEWS
Los Alamos County, through the Los Alamos Police Department, has received federal funding to promote community awareness of crime victims’ rights and services April 7-13 during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week.
The funding will be used to place victim resource directories, in the form of rack cards, on Atomic City Transit buses, and New Mexico Park and Ride buses, as part of a Community Awareness Project in Los Alamos County and surrounding communities. A slide show will run on several Atomic City Transit buses in the downtown area, and an audio promotion of victims’ rights will run on all Atomic City Transit buses. The funding comes from the U. S. Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) through the National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators (NAVAA).
First designated by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, National Crime Victims’ Rights Week increases general public awareness of, and knowledge about the wide range of rights and services available to people who have been victimized by crime. The theme for 2019 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week is “Honoring Our Past. Creating Hope for the Future.”
“The support from OVC and NAVAA for our 2019 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities will help us help crime victims,” said Chief Dino Sgambellone of the Los Alamos Police Department. “Members of our community are encouraged to honor the past achievements of programs that aid crime victims and survivors, and join us in creating hope for a future where all crime survivors are treated with dignity and respect, and receive the services they need and deserve.”
Since 2004, OVC’s NCVRW Community Awareness Project has provided financial and technical assistance to more than 1,000 community projects that promote victim and public awareness activities, and innovative approaches to victim/survivor outreach and public education about victims’ rights and services during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. The Incorporated County of Los Alamos/Los Alamos Police Department, was one of the 92 projects recommended by NAVAA and selected for funding by OVC for 2019 from the 200 applications that were submitted nationwide.
For additional information about 2019 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week activities or about victims’ rights and services in Los Alamos County, neighboring communities, and nationwide, please contact the Los Alamos County Victim Assistant at (505) 663-3511. For information about national efforts to promote 2019 National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, please visit the Office for Victims of Crime website at http://www.ovc.gov/ncvrw.
The National Association of VOCA Assistance Administrators is a non-profit organization that represents the 56 state agencies that distribute money from the federal Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Crime Victims Fund to more than 6,300 direct victim assistance service providers. The money in the Crime Victims Fund comes from fines and other monetary penalties collected from offenders convicted of Federal crimes and not from U.S. taxpayers.