Editor’s note: This is an additional story in a series that will follow the Fairborn Citizen’s Police Academy. Look for the installment each week until the course ends.

FAIRBORN — The Fairborn/Beavercreek Victim Assistance Program aims to provide intervention and help where it is needed.

“We provide crisis response, assist in death notification and take all referrals for domestic violence arrests or cases if they don’t make an arrest,” said Kim Seubert, director of Fairborn’s Victims Assistance Program. “Under the prosecutor’s office we are also the advocate who takes that victim through the system. We don’t require victims to come to court after the crime has been committed … I don’t want to make that victim go through more than what they’ve already been through.”

She highlighted her duties and the roles of the program during week eight of the Fairborn Police Department’s Citizens Police Academy. She said the program serves all jurisdictions passing through Fairborn Municipal Court. It averages approximately 500 crime victims per year, serving more than 12,000 over the course of the program which began in the early 1990s.

It helps individuals create a victim impact statement, which allows victims tell how crimes committed against them impacted their life and their family. In addition, it assists victims in obtaining and maintaining a protection order against violators.

“We do all this on behalf of a crime victim,” she said. “We do this to make sure their rights are upheld.”

A protection order puts rules in place that prevent crime violators from engaging in certain actions with the safety of the victim in mind. Those with a protection order filed against them must not have deadly weapons. Specifications of protection orders are put in place by the court and if rules are violated, they could face consequences.

Some of its specifications include:

– Surrendering all keys and garage door openers for residences;

– keeping a certain distance from the protected individual;

– not contacting the protected individual;

– keeping away from areas utilized by the protected individual, such as a school, workplace, business or daycare;

– not encouraging others to engage in behaviors specified by the protection order;

– picking up personal items at a particular time under the supervision of a law enforcement officer;

– not having or utilizing alcohol or illegal drugs;

– not interfering with the protected individual’s ability to occupy their home, such as canceling utilities;

– not causing any harm to pets.

“We want families and relationships to be nonviolent,” Seubert said.

A Greene County Agencies for Combined Enforcement (ACE) Task Force detective spoke to CPA participants about its objectives, which includes spending more time on investigations relating to false IDs, theft rings, meth labs and drug trafficking. It serves the Fairborn, Sugarcreek Township, Beavercreek and Xenia Police Departments, the Greene County Sheriff’s Office and prosecutors office.

“The primary purpose of the Greene County ACE Task Force is to conduct complex criminal investigations into areas that a traditional organized detective division does not have the resources to commit,” The detective said, adding that ACE Task Force investigations can sometimes take months or years to complete.

The detective highlighted drugs the ACE Task Force deals with, such as marijuana, crack cocaine, powder cocaine, MDMA, heroin, prescription pills and meth. According to the detective, marijuana is the most commonly abused drug, heroin takes the most lives and meth is making a comeback.

“You think ‘this is a small town, Greene County, suburbs’ — it’s everywhere,” the detective said. “People bank on that, people not suspecting [it in] these small communities.”

Week nine of CPA highlighted the Regional Emergency Response Team and crisis negations.