MCAT task force to be reactivated
Because of the recent decision by the State of Kansas to close the Marion Social and Rehabilitation Services office and the ensuing loss of services, Police Chief Michel Soyez told city commissioners Monday, a task force known as the Marion County Abuse Team will be reactivated.
Soyez said he recently met with County Attorney Susan Robson about reorganizing the task force, originally formed in 2000. The program was designed to engage joint cooperation in child abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect cases in order to minimize trauma to the young victims while maximizing evidence gathering and prosecution efforts, Soyez said.
When formed, the force was to involve all county law enforcement agencies as a group to investigate such cases, to ensure that nothing was left undone, Soyez said.
Each agency assigned an officer to the task force when mutual aid among agencies was needed, then team members from other agencies assisted.
Meetings and discussions also were to be held concerning each case.
Robson agreed to restart the task force if Soyez organized it, he said. He is one of two officers still working in Marion County who were on the initial team.
A new area to be incorporated into the task force is the drug-endangered child investigation. This is a neglect situation, Soyez explained, where children are endangered because of drug use by parents or others in a home.
Examples include needles lying around a house, meth-cooking chemicals within reach of small children, and similar cases.
Such an investigation needs to be separate, yet function at the same time as the criminal drug investigation, Soyez said, and "sometimes it is hard for one agency to perform both tasks at the same time."
If needed, the team (task force) could be called to assist the agency investigating the drug case, and as much investigation could go into the child's welfare as into the drug charges, Soyez said.
Many county agencies have expressed interest in this idea, he added, since they too see this as a potential problem starting next year. The SRS special investigator, Glen McCarty, from El Dorado, has also agreed to be on the team, Soyez said.
"I believe this is a positive step
He said several SRS employees have assured him that the state agency will continue to serve Marion and Marion County, although the "local" office now will be in El Dorado.
Soyez said although helping children in need is one of SRS's highest priorities, it is hard to believe that if they are not here services will continue to function as smoothly.
Soyez believes local police departments will have to absorb a larger majority of at least the initial calls for service in these cases.
That will mean more time spent on these cases, and more training necessary in this area to provide quality service.
"I feel confident our agency (MPD) is prepared for this change on a qualification level, and am really only truly concerned with the possible call-volume issues," he said.
