BENTONVILLE -- Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., visited the Southern Region National Child Protection Training Center for the first time Thursday and expressed his gratitude to those fighting child abuse.
"There's not anything more important than what you do," said Boozman, a Republican from Rogers, addressing a room packed with several dozen people.
Child Abuse In Benton County
There were 376 confirmed cases of child abuse in Benton County in 2014. There were 325 confirmed cases in 2013.
Source: Staff report
Boozman gave a brief speech before getting a tour of the center from Victor Vieth, senior director and founder of a network of child protection training centers that originated in Minnesota.
The center's facility on the Northwest Arkansas Community College campus opened in early 2014. Features include forensic interview rooms, a mock courtroom, practice medical exam rooms and a two-story mock home. The purpose is to provide training to people who work with children to recognize, report and respond to child abuse.
Boozman is spending time in Arkansas this month while Congress is in recess. He said he's had numerous meetings with officials about the center but hadn't had an opportunity to visit previously.
"I'm very, very impressed with the facility," he said, upon completing his tour.
The bulk of Boozman's tour was spent inside the mock home, where a crime scene had been set up for training purposes. The premise of the scene is there's been a call to 911 from the address during which the caller hung up. When investigators responding to the home get inside, they find an unconscious, injured baby on the floor and a 5-year-old girl cowering in a closet upstairs.
The home is a mess. In the kitchen there's an overturned infant swing and blood smeared across the front of the refrigerator. A dirty diaper and a shattered picture frame are on the floor.
"The investigators work through the crime scene in real time," Vieth said. "They interview the doctors. They get reports from the crime lab. They interview actors portraying those involved. They slowly uncover physical abuse and sexual abuse. The big thing is to sort out which of the two parents did it."
In every room there are about 50 clues, Vieth told Boozman. The average investigator notices about 40 percent of those clues; the goal is to increase that figure to 80 percent, Vieth said.
Boozman made his speech inside the mock courtroom where Vieth had just conducted a training session on adolescents who commit sexual crimes. Those who turned out for Boozman's appearance included college officials and several state legislators from Northwest Arkansas. Former college president Becky Paneitz and Melba Shewmaker, for whom the center's building is named, also attended.
Boozman, following an introduction by college President Evelyn Jorgenson, began his speech in a light-hearted manner.
"I get a lot more respect in Washington. You all actually know me," he said.
On a more serious note, Boozman paid tribute to the professionals in the audience -- mostly prosecutors and detectives -- who were at the center for multi-disciplinary team training.
"The people you reach out to, the people you help, are the ones who need help most of all," he said.
The Southern Region National Child Protection Training Center has operated at the college since 2010, but it wasn't until last year the center got its own facility. The building of more than 16,000 square feet cost about $3 million to remodel to fit the center's needs. That money came from donations.
"You can have these visions and dreams and things, but making them come to fruition is a lot of hard work," Boozman said. "My mission here is to thank all of you who made this possible, and also to thank those of you on the front lines."
The training center at the college is one of a few such centers across the country. It has hosted training for more than 2,700 professionals so far this year, Vieth said. They come from other states and even other countries; a group of about 20 people from Russia are scheduled to come in November for training in forensic interviewing, he said.
Nathan Smith, Benton County prosecuting attorney, was another among those who turned out for Boozman's appearance. Smith has participated in some training sessions at the center, he said.
"It provides that training that's so essential, to recognize what child abuse is, to learn to prevent it, and also on the law enforcement side, to know how best to deal with it," Smith said.
The hands-on training the center provides is critical, he said.
"We are now able to branch out and offer training to more people. The mere presence of (the center) raises awareness," Smith said.
NW News on 08/14/2015