Colorado Victim Advocate Podcast: Technology Meets Awareness [Listen]

For victims of domestic violence and stalking, knowing that a monitored individual is nearby can help them put a personal safety plan into action. Connecting that awareness with clear response procedures and support from agencies and advocates is an essential part of a victim notification program.

That was at the center of a recent conversation on the Colorado Victim Advocate Podcast featuring SCRAM Systems’ Lisa Chavez, Sr Marketing Manager, and Cody Page, SCRAM Services. The discussion explored not only how victim notification technology works, but what it takes to build an effective program around it. Technology may generate the alerts, but policies, response protocols, training, and coordination among victim advocates, supervision agencies, courts, and law enforcement help turn those alerts into action.

Extending Awareness Beyond Fixed Locations

Traditional GPS monitoring can establish exclusion zones around specific locations, such as a victim’s home or workplace. Victim notification technology can extend that concept beyond fixed addresses.

 A mobile exclusion zone can extend awareness beyond fixed locations by moving with a victim’s smartphone. If a monitored individual enters that zone, the victim and supervising authority can receive a notification. For example, SCRAM Ally® works with SCRAM GPS® to provide this capability without showing the monitored individual’s exact location to the victim.

The conversation also addressed the value of a configurable buffer zone. While a primary exclusion zone can reflect the distance established by a court, a larger buffer zone can provide an earlier notification when the monitored individual enters the surrounding area. As Cody described it during the podcast, the buffer can provide a “heads up,” while the actual violation alert occurs when the court-defined zone is breached.

Proximity isn’t the only information that may be relevant. The podcast also explored notifications related to GPS device status, including when a device reaches a low or critical battery state or is removed. These types of events can give the victim additional information about a change in the monitored individual’s compliance or monitoring status and allow the victim to respond according to their safety plan.

That range of information also reinforces the operational challenge for agencies: different alerts can present different circumstances and potentially require different responses. Having the technology in place is only the first step. Agencies also need clearly defined policies and protocols for what happens when those alerts occur.

Technology Is One Layer of a Safety Plan

There are limitations of the technology.

"It's an early warning system," Cody Page explained. Technology cannot prevent someone who is determined to cause harm from doing so. Instead, the system is designed to provide information as quickly as possible so the victim can respond according to their personal safety plan.

That philosophy matters when implementing victim notification. The technology isn't intended to replace victim advocates, safety planning, law enforcement response, or supervision. It adds another source of information to a larger safety strategy.

Successful Programs Depend on Collaboration

Technology is only one piece of an effective victim notification program. This discussion outlines a broader ecosystem that can include judges and magistrates, community corrections and pretrial agencies, victim advocates, prosecutors, defense attorneys, police departments, and sheriff's offices.

The role of victim advocates was particularly relevant to the conversation. Cody Page explains victim becomes scared, the advocate may be the first person they contact because that relationship already exists. That makes advocate involvement an important consideration when jurisdictions develop their policies and response protocols.

The same applies to planning for alerts. Different events can require different responses, making clear policies, procedures, and stakeholder coordination essential before a program is put into practice.

As Cody Page advised jurisdictions considering a program, agencies can learn from jurisdictions already using the technology rather than developing every policy and procedure from scratch. His larger recommendation was equally direct: don't rush a program that can provide an additional layer of protection and safety for victims.

Putting Victim Safety at the Center

 Randy and Cody also get into what it takes to put these programs into practice, from how jurisdictions are using GPS monitoring and victim notification in domestic violence cases to what agencies can learn from communities already doing the work.

Tennessee's Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act was discussed as one example. Cody Page explained that the law requires electronic monitoring with victim notification for certain qualifying charges and addresses responses when alerts are generated.  

For jurisdictions exploring similar approaches, the conversation reinforced a practical lesson: effective programs require more than selecting technology. They require stakeholder involvement, clearly defined responses, education, and a shared understanding of how the technology fits into broader victim safety efforts.

Helping Restore a Piece of Normalcy

Near the end of the conversation, Randy the host shared that victims he has worked with have described feeling a greater sense of safety knowing they could be notified if something happened. Cody Page summed up the purpose behind the technology this way:

"It's an extra layer of security to try to bring a piece of normalcy back to the victims and survivors of these crimes."  

That may be one of the most useful ways to think about victim notification.

It isn't a guarantee of safety, nor is technology a substitute for the work of advocates, agencies, courts, law enforcement, and victims themselves. It is another layer that can provide information and awareness as part of a broader, coordinated approach to safety.

And as more jurisdictions consider victim notification programs, the conversation should extend beyond what the technology can do to how technology, policy, advocacy, and community partnerships can work together to better support victims and survivors.

Listen to the full conversation: Colorado Victim Advocate Podcast on Spotify