LAW ENFORCEMENT, SOCIAL SERVICES, DISTRICT ATTORNEY, CHILD ABUSE SERVICES TEAM (CAST)

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In addition, the police officer shares with the responding social worker a responsibility for insuting that the child is protected. The police officer is responsible for deciding whether a child should be taken into protective custody under the authority of Welfare and Institutions Code Section 305. Ideally, when making a decision to take the child into protective custody, a consensus should be reached between the officer and the responding social worker. If the officer has decided to place the child in protective custody, arrangements must be made to transport the child to the Child Protective Facility. If a police officer responds to an initial referral unaccompanied by an emergency response worker and makes a decision not to place the victim in protective custody, he or she will immediately advise the Child Abuse Registry in compliance with departmental procedures and legal requirements. C. INTERVIEW SITE An assessment should be made by the police officer concerning the site of the joint interview. Every effort should be made to conduct the interview at a site likely to minimize the trauma to the child victim. Depending upon the urgency of the situation and upon the necessity for protection of the child, every effort should be made to utilize the CAST interview room for the interviews. Following the initial contact interview, if the circumstances indicate that an additional detailed interview should be conducted, every effort should be made to schedule the interview at CAST. The responsible officer will call the facility to establish the date and time. When a criminal investigation is in progress, the police officer will cooperate with the social workers investigating dependency to coordinate the interview of the child victim. The police agency will share information obtained from the interviews with the Child Protective Agencies involved, provided sharing the information will not interfere with the criminal investigation. Due to the complicated nature of these investigations, each law enforcement agency should consider using a child abuse law enforcement specialist during the initial response of a reported child abuse. When a child abuse law enforcement specialist is not available, the responding officer should be encouraged to utilize the expertise of the social services representative if one is present. The assigned officer will coordinate and participate in the assessment and interview of the victim(s) with the emergency response social worker. When appropriate, the police agency will tefet victims of child sexual abuse to CAST for the support and victim services CAST provides. The assigned police officer in conjunction with the medical providers and District Attorney at CAST will determine if a medical examination of the victim is necessary. In nonemergency cases, the examination should be performed by appointment at CAST. The police officer will provide the emergency response worker with an event number (crime report or log entry number) to be included on the DOJ Form BCIA 8583, and comply with