In 2021, the Texas 87th Legislature passed a law that requires all counties in the state to establish an Adult Sexual Assault Response Team, or “SART.” The law describes SART as a “formalized coordinated response to a sexual assault.” The local SART represents the two counties in the 35th Judicial District, Brown and Mills. The President of the 35th District SART is local attorney Jordan Cadenhead Ketter, who works in the 35th District Attorney’s office. According to Cadenhead Ketter, the local SART team “is comprised of community partners, law enforcement, advocates, and health care professionals. Their focus is on coordinating trauma-informed responses for adult survivors of sexual assault.”
The purpose of the SART is for its members to “communicate with each other regularly to discuss mutual cases and solve mutual problems related to disclosures of sexual assault” in Brown and Mills Counties. The Core Members of the local SART team are:
*** Jordan Cadenhead Ketter, 35th District Attorney’s Office, President
***Patrick Weaver, Brownwood Police Department, Vice-President
*** Brenda Butler, The ARK, Secretary
*** Matt Lincoln, Bangs Police Department
*** Steven Means, Early Police Department, Compliance Committee
*** Susie Striegler, Hendrick Medical Center
*** Carina Mares, Center for Life Resources
*** Bruce Mulloy, Mills County Sheriff’s Office
*** Toby Mathis, Brown County Sheriff’s Office
Also on the Compliance Committee are Kristen Staton and Laura Hammond.
The objectives and goals for SART include: Provide trauma-informed response to sexual assault (mentioned above); minimize survivor traumatization; improve health and judicial outcomes; provide outreach and education about sexual violence; and develop community awareness and prevention. The SART team meets quarterly to discuss current sexual assault cases. All members of the team (law enforcement, victim advocates, health care representatives) educate each other with information from their organization about current cases. The ultimate goal is to coordinate and improve the overall efficacy of the response to the assault case from law enforcement, health care, and victim advocates.
SART produced a biannual report of its activities, which was presented to the Brown County Commissioners Court on January 12 by Jordan Cadenhead Ketter. In the next two years, SART’s main goal is “to provide each victim who outcries a consistent victim center approach to the investigation, crisis management, and prosecution in Brown County. This will include improving the timeliness of services provided in each core area, while also giving each survivor the quality service they deserve.”