TRI's Ambassador of the Year: Jennifer Wallace
Jennifer Wallace is being recognized as one of the Trauma Resource Institute's Ambassadors of the Year for 2020. Since first meeting Jen, we were struck by her commitment and passion for bringing trauma-informed investigative practices into the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. Through Jennifer, we have met individuals working in the criminal justice system dedicated to changing the paradigm not only for investigative practices but for community policy. She brought to TRI an idea for Resiliency-Focused Community Policing. Her ideas about integrating the concepts of the Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® in Community Policing is a paradigm shift that could help reshape relationships between community members and law enforcement and could be used as a model for law enforcement nation-wide.
Jen Wallace has served in and around law enforcement for over 30 years. She spent most of her career in Seattle as a criminal investigator and supervisor with the U.S. Department of Defense, retiring in 2015. Since then, she’s worked with the Seattle Police Department (SPD) in a civilian capacity on a Human Trafficking grant prior to moving into her current role as a Program Manager for Sexual Assault Investigations at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission (WSCJTC).
The inclusion of trauma-informed investigative practices involved in the SPD and WSCJTC roles prompted Jen to seek out the Trauma Resource Institute. After attending the Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM)® Levels 1 and 2 trainings, Jen was inspired to integrate wellness skills into the sexual assault investigation victim interview training being developed at the WSCJTC. Jen and two trainers-experts in the field of investigating sexual assaults–integrated the Community Resiliency Model into the victim interview and the officer resiliency components of the WSCJTC course. Hundreds of officers around Washington State have now been trained in this model and can actively apply CRM skills to themselves and victims of sexual assaults and other crimes.
Because of the multi-disciplinary investigative approach emphasized in the training, the CRM-certified members of the training team (17 in total) are also training other disciplines such as nurses, advocates, social workers, and prosecutors in the CRM model. Jen wants to highlight the support of WSCJTC leadership and the outstanding devotion and talents of the entire training team, and particularly Amy Gallardo and Corporal Curtis Whitman, for their delivery of the CRM skills and their ongoing commitment to bringing wellness to the criminal justice system.
The team is currently developing the Resiliency-Focused Community Policing training in collaboration with TRI that will benefit members of the criminal justice system and include trainings for the community at large. The training and inclusion of CRM as part of this training were cited in a report recently completed for Governor Jay Inslee of Washington State and the Washington State Legislature.
