The Office for Victims of Crime’s (OVC’s) Technical Assistance, Publications, and Information Resources Unit (TAPIR) is responsible for developing and disseminating information that supports victim service providers and allied professionals. This important mission is achieved through four TAPIR components.

Office for Victims of Crime Resource Center (OVCRC)

OVCRC is the field’s primary source of crime victim information. As a component of the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), OVCRC has access to the most comprehensive criminal justice library in the world. OVCRC produces, collects, maintains, and disseminates information and resources for victim service providers and allied professionals. When you ask OVCRC for help, information specialists will tailor a response based on your needs by using regional and national victimization statistics, research findings, and a network of victim advocates and organizations.

OVCRC staff attend local, state, and national conferences to provide appropriate OVC resources and promote dialog about emerging issues in the victim services field. In addition, OVCRC provides publications and resource materials for training workshops, seminars, and conferences on request.

Information about victim-related issues is available from OVCRC 24 hours a day through the Internet and the NCJRS Fax-on-Demand System. The NCJRS home page is your gateway to information and publications from all Office of Justice Programs agencies and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.* Full text of many publications is available through this site. Announcements about current publications and developments in the criminal justice field are published in the free Justice Information (JUSTINFO) electronic newsletter distributed on the 1st and 15th of each month. Selected publications can be obtained through the Fax-on-Demand System. Call 1–800–851–3420 and follow the instructions to receive, by fax, a list of available publications. If you need help with online services, more information on criminal and juvenile justice topics, or technical assistance, e-mail your query to www.ncjrs.gov/App/QA/SubmitQuestion.aspx.

Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTAC)

OVC TTAC offers comprehensive, quality training and technical assistance resources to victim service providers and allied professionals to help them provide skilled, capable, victim-sensitive assistance to crime victims. OVC TTAC staff can identify mentors and expert consultants, secure speakers for conferences and workshops, provide state-of-the-art training on victim issues, find facilitators for focus groups and strategic planning meetings, provide training to expand the field’s understanding of victim issues, and offer technical assistance for new and growing programs. In addition, OVC TTAC offers users access to a consultant database via OVC’s Web site. The database houses information on more than 250 consultants and allows users to search by name, location, area of expertise, and/or language proficiency. For a list of available trainings, please call OVCRC to request a copy of the most recent OVC Training Resource Guide or visit OVC’s online conference calendar and look for the TTAC logo.

Education and Outreach

The TAPIR Education and Outreach Component supports initiatives and dissemination strategies to maximize the field’s access to OVC products and resources. The component coordinates OVC’s marketing strategy to distribute useful and timely information, organizes OVC’s conference support functions worldwide through OVCRC, and maintains the calendar of OVC-sponsored conferences that is listed on the OVC Web site. In addition, this component is responsible for OVC’s Web-based training initiative as well as the National and State Victim Assistance Academy initiatives and OVC’s Professional Development Institute, an educational course for managers of victim assistance programs. This component also develops and maintains the OVC Web site, including announcements of new OVC publications and products.

Publications

The TAPIR Publications Component produces written documents and other products developed by grantees, as well as fact sheets and bulletins written by OVC staff. This component also coordinates printing and dissemination of OVC products. TAPIR staff offer writing and editing services and other prepublication support and provide OVC’s discretionary grantees with guidelines for submitting publications.

OVC publications include literature on emerging victim issues, studies of promising practices and demonstration programs with national impact, guides for policy development, and technical assistance and skill-building tools. OVC also provides access to videos and other resources designed to inform and assist victim service providers and allied professionals in their efforts to respond to crime victims. OVC has an extensive library of grantee-produced videos, many of which have received multiple awards.

For More Information

For more information about OVC initiatives, please contact

* NCJRS supports all program offices and bureaus within the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, which include the Office of the Assistant Attorney General, Corrections Program Office, Drug Courts Program Office, Executive Office for Weed and Seed, Office for Domestic Preparedness, Office of the Police Corps and Law Enforcement Education, Violence Against Women Office, Bureau of Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and OVC. NCJRS also supports the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and the National Institute of Corrections.

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