Welcome to the Online Training Institute! Below you will find a list of all the available training modules.
Participants in the OLTI can work through the various training modules to learn and review new information and then apply this knowledge in realistic and interactive scenarios, as well as assessment methods such as quizzes, tests, and case studies. For those of you who learn best by reading the training content on paper rather than online, you will also have the option of printing out a PDF version of any module. However, you will still be required to work through the online module in order to complete the review questions, practice exercises, and end-of-course test, before earning your certificate of completion.
The OLTI is available free to any interested professional. To support this work, please Donate Now.
Browse Courses:
Victim Impact: How Victims Are Affected by Sexual Assault and How Law Enforcement Can Respond
This training module is designed to explain the impact of sexual assault victimization, including effects seen on the physical, psychological, economic, and emotional well-being of victims. The module will describe common behaviors and experiences that are seen among victims of sexual assault. However, there is no universal reaction; there are just as many differences in…
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False Reports: Moving Beyond the Issues to Successfully Investigate and Prosecute Non-Stranger Sexual Assault
This module is designed to directly confront the difficult question of false reporting. This will require challenging some of the “red flags” that often raise suspicion among criminal justice professionals and members of the general public, yet nonetheless represent the realistic dynamics of sexual assault crimes. By doing so, we will try to answer those questions…
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Opening Doors: Alternative Reporting Options for Sexual Assault Victims
This module explores strategies to increase reporting options for sexual assault victims. These approaches are grounded in a victim-centered and trauma-informed philosophy, encapsulated in the concepts of one step at a time and opening doors. After defining key concepts, the module examines policy and practice considerations for communities seeking to implement such options. Ultimately, victims…
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Effective Victim Interviewing: Helping Victims Retrieve and Disclose Memories of Sexual Assault
The purpose of a law enforcement interview with a sexual assault victim is to help them: (1) remember details about their sexual assault, and (2) share those details with investigators. The investigator’s role is then to document this information and evaluate it within the context of the entire investigation. This module offers a brief overview…
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Successfully Investigating Sexual Assault Against Victims with Disabilities
This module is written from a law enforcement perspective, providing information and guidance for first responders as well as investigators and even prosecutors. However, it is intended to be equally helpful for others whose work intersects with the criminal justice system, to ensure that people with disabilities who are victimized have equal access to information,…
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Forensic Examinations of Sexual Assault Victims and Suspects: Role of the Examination in Sex Crimes Investigations
The purpose of this module is to improve the use of forensic examinations to collect evidence from the bodies and clothing of both victims and suspects during a sexual assault investigation. The module goes beyond simply explaining the procedures that are used during victim and suspect forensic examinations. It also explores the different types of…
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Laboratory Analysis of Biological Evidence and the Role of DNA in Sexual Assault Investigations
This comprehensive module explores the complex role of DNA in a sexual assault investigation, including the alternative sources of DNA evidence and their potential significance or impact on a sexual assault investigation. A number of resources and tools are provided, along with a series of complex and interactive case examples. Estimated time for completion: 32…
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Crime Scene Processing and Recovery of Physical Evidence from Sexual Assault Scenes
This module provides guidance on crime scene processing, a systematic, meticulous, and scientific process that law enforcement investigators should employ in every major criminal investigation. This process is used to document and preserve a location where criminal activity is known or suspected to have occurred; it facilitates the location and recovery of physical evidence to help…
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Clearance Methods for Sexual Assault Cases
In this module, we will provide information for law enforcement officers, investigators, and supervisors who make decisions regarding how to clear or otherwise close sexual assault cases. These determinations can be extremely difficult, yet many law enforcement personnel are provided little or no guidance in how to make them appropriately. Therefore, in this module we…
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Sustaining a Coordinated Community Response: Sexual Assault Response and Resource Teams (SARRT)
Because sexual assault is such a complex and sensitive crime, effective response to it requires a teamwork approach. As a result, many communities have sought to meet these coordination needs by establishing a Sexual Assault Response and Resource Team (SARRT). With such a model for coordination, each member of the team has distinct but interdependent responsibilities….
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Breaking Barriers: The Role of Community-Based and System-Based Victim Advocates
As anyone working in this field knows, the unique dynamics of sexual assault all too often prevent victims from reporting the crime or participating fully in the process of investigation and prosecution. Victim advocates can be extremely effective in addressing these problems, by providing victims with the information, emotional support, and proactive assistance they need….
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Retired Modules
- Dynamics of Sexual Assault: What Does Sexual Assault Really Look Like?
- Effective Report Writing: Using the Language of Non-Consensual Sex
- Effective Victim Advocacy Within the Criminal Justice System
- Law and Investigative Strategy: What Kind of Sexual Assault is This?
- Preliminary Investigation: Guidelines for First Responders
- Sexual Assault Response and Resource Teams (SARRT): A Guide for Rural and Remote Communities
- The Earthquake in Sexual Assault Response: Implementing VAWA Forensic Compliance
- Untested Evidence and the Investigation of Cold Sexual Assault Cases
The OLTI was created and continues to be supported with funding from the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice. However, the opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women.