Memphis strategic team against rape and sexual assault: One city's struggle to find a new way of doing business, The

University of Memphis Law Review, The, Winter 2002 by Jones, Christopher Leon Jr

C Stage Three: Design a Strategic Intervention To Tackle the Problem

In this stage of the Strategic Approaches model, there is a further division of the process that began with the data analysis in the previous stage. The data analysis starts the process of moving from research to action, and it is a place where one can become mired in a great amount of detail. The analysis and planning should not freeze one's action; it is extremely difficult to plan for every possible scenario.

The analysis of the data should reveal a number of

After completing the data analysis, a strategic plan should be developed. The strategic plan establishes the foundation for the intervention stage by identifying critical tasks and setting goals and objectives for your group.59 Again, the development of the strategic plan requires the balancing of several concerns. Naturally, any crime reduction effort would like to see the rate of the selected crime decrease. The question is how does one achieve the reduction without getting caught in a game of counting numbers? In Memphis, there was some debate over establishing number targets as objectives. In the end, we chose to avoid the selection of arbitrary number targets because it would only set us up to fail. Instead, we made realistic objective statements that would lead to the ultimate reduction in sexual assault we wanted to see consistently over time.

One must also be conscious of publicizing the intervention strategies that are put in place to change the conditions of the community. The importance of thinking about the press early in the process is illustrated by the following example. During the week of November 12, 1999, The Commercial Appeal published an article that contained historical information from one of our partners that showed some of the past faults of another agency. Although the article was accurate, it did some damage to the fragile trust relationship that had been built, and I had to put in extra work to build the trust back. Beyond the initial problem of fractured unity, the main problem was that the article made no mention of the new initiatives that had been put in place by SACK to combat the types of problems identified within the article. Lessons were learned during this time, some more painful than others, but I tried to capitalize on them by the time National Sexual Assault Awareness Month arrived in April 2000.

Another lesson learned was to always be ready for a media opportunity. Each year, the month of April is designated National Sexual Assault Awareness Month. I wanted to take advantage of this month in 2000 to get coverage on our SACSI efforts and let the city know about the work that was being done. A local television station produced a segment for the evening news, and The Commercial Appeal published an editorial that detailed the initial interventions that had been put in place.64 In May of 2000, our research team was invited to participate in the first National Sexual Violence Prevention Conference, which was sponsored by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It was a great opportunity to promote the Strategic Approaches model and talk about the work being accomplished in Memphis.