Team donates equipment to sexual assault, child abuse investigator

Tahlequah Daily Press - 8/8/2020

Aug. 8--The Multidisciplinary Team and Help In Crisis donated new electronics to the Sexual Assault and Child Abuse investigator for the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office and the Tahlequah Police Department.

Cherokee County Sheriff's Investigator Ryan Robison said the MDT is a collaboration among multiple agencies to investigate and provide services for crimes against children.

"I am the new sexual assault and child abuse investigator for the Sheriff's Office," Robison said. "So I am the contact for CCSO for the MDT. Help In Crisis, the Department of Human Services, and the District Attorney's Office are a few of the agencies."

According to Oklahoma Statutes, the DHS allocates money available in the Child Abuse Multidisciplinary Account to a hospital or a child advocacy center. Funding distribution is determined by multiplying the number of applicants in each category by the corresponding weight as a freestanding multidisciplinary child abuse team.

Robison said MDT provided him with a brand-new laptop, two terabyte hard drives, a camera, a GoPro Camera, and a DVD copier. It also provided a DVD copier to the TPD.

"MDT has given us stuff before but nothing to this extent. They've paid for trainings and there's a Crimes Against Child conference in Dallas every year that they pay for," Robison said.

Tahlequah Police Chief Nate King said the DVD copier will make a difference in the department when it comes to processing disks.

"Those will speed our process up when making multiple disk, and any case we file takes at least two disks, if not three," said King. "We'll just have to burn one disk now. Any other time, it's the same 5- to 10-minute process, depending on the length of the interview."

Robison said the new equipment will help him tremendously with the many tasks the job entails.

"I originally asked for just a recorder, but Kim Childers [MDT coordinator] asked if I needed anything else. So I gave her a list and she got it done," Robison said. "It's all going to help a lot -- especially with the GoPro camera, since we don't have an actual interview room. We'll be able to record interviews with suspects and victims."

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