This online toolkit, prepared by the U.S. Justice Department's Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) in cooperation with other Federal agencies, is intended to assist communities in preparing for and responding to victims of mass violence and terrorism in a timely, effective, and compassionate manner.
The toolkit guides community leaders in the domains of victim services, medical services, emergency planners, law enforcement, and prosecutors' offices in achieving four objectives. One objective is to develop a comprehensive victim assistance plan for responding to incidents of mass violence and terrorism, as well as natural disasters, human-caused disasters, emergency crises, and high-profile criminal incidents. The toolkit's second objective is to bring key partners together to review existing emergency plans and initiate or continue the development of a victim assistance plan for the community. The third objective is to establish or improve victim assistance protocols for effective response and recovery efforts. A Partnership and Planning checklist is provided to assist in achieving this objective. The fourth objective is to monitor and assess the implementation of the victim assistance protocols developed in the partnerships and planning stage. Response and Recovery checklists are provided for evaluating immediate and long-term responses to victims. These checklists can be tailored to the needs of each community.