Madison Co. Sheriff's Department to distribute 7,000 victim impact cards for new program

Last week, the Madison County Sheriff's Office became the latest law enforcement agency to receive 7,000 victim impact cards to be distributed by deputies who respond to calls of domestic violence.

The Wo/Men’s Resource and Rape Assistance Program (WRAP), a local entity providing support and help for victims of domestic and sexual violence, provided the cards to the sheriff’s office.

In 2023, the Jackson Police Department (JPD) and Madison County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) filed reports for a combined total of nearly 600 cases of domestic and sexual violence.

JPD receives a higher volume of calls than MCSO, but Implementing the cards replaces the former method of simply verbally communicating to the victim what resources are available to them.

"We're very fortunate in our community to have WRAP and to have the Safe Hope Center," Wiser said.

"All the resources that we have here to help with domestic violence, I just feel like we're steps ahead of other communities across the country."

Upon responding to a domestic violence call, the deputy refers to their Lethality Assessment Program (LAP) card to determine the severity of the situation. Depending on the LAP criteria a victim meets gauges the situation danger-wise and may prompt an immediate call to WRAP.

Then, the victim is given one of the resource cards outlining their legal rights, warrant procedures, and encourages seeking help from local organizations like WRAP and the Safe Hope Center.

"You don't know what you don't know," Wiser said.

"If you don't know what resources are out there and we don't provide the information, they may not know. So it's important and critical that we get the resources and information out."

The sheriff's office receiving its share of resource cards comes on the heels of JPD receiving 7,000 of the same ones in October 2023.

“We just want to make sure that victims everywhere have the same resources, the same information and the same access whether they’re city or county,” said JPD Sergeant Danielle Jones.

As part of its “Wrapping West Tennessee in Support” campaign, a grant from the Community Foundation of West Tennessee covered the cost of the cards for both JPD and MCSO.

“The partnership, we are so appreciative of. Thank you so much,” said WRAP Executive Director Mamie Hutcherson speaking to Wiser.