District attorney's office works to improve victim services program

May 21—CHEYENNE — In the past year, multiple victims of crimes have made public their concerns with the Laramie County District Attorney's office, saying the staff didn't properly walk them through the legal system and that they felt there was no communication throughout the process.

Now, the DA's office is working to address those concerns, and hopes some new hires and program updates will do the trick.

Dia Ortiz is the new coordinator of the Laramie County DA's Victim Services Program. She took on the role in December, and she has already made changes to address the previous issues.

Laramie County District Attorney Sylvia Hackl said her office hasn't received as many complaints since Ortiz began, and she has already seen a positive impact in the program.

"I think it's safe to say that over her time here, considering that it's been a relatively short period of time, Dia has made tremendous changes," Hackl said.

Ortiz said that she spent her first few weeks just observing and understanding how her new work environment functions.

At the same time, she was also responding to the large number of emails and voicemails from concerned victims seeking guidance and support.

The goal of the DA's Victim Services Program is to provide information to victims of crime, help them navigate the legal system, provide support during court proceedings and provide information to the courts about restitution.

When she first started, she ran through all the open cases that were assigned to her predecessor, and started contacting victims to introduce herself and provide her contact information. Once that was finished, Ortiz shifted her attention to grant writing.

Next, Ortiz hopes to develop a better way of tracking the number of victims her program serves. The current system counts cases as a whole, rather than individuals. Addressing this will help streamline processes like grant writing, she said.

For the first time in six years, the DA's office also has all 10 allocated attorney positions filled, with intentions to hire an 11th through a grant-funded program. Hackl said filling those vacancies was her top priority when she took office in January 2023; at that time, there were only five attorneys, including the elected DA.

In late summer 2023, Hackl was alerted that victims were not getting calls back and not receiving information about their cases from the Victim Services Program.

"So, I began to really look into what was going on with crime victims, and phone calls weren't getting returned. Some of the reasons I was given was, 'We're overworked, we don't have enough time.' And so, we tried to work through those things. But ultimately, I made a decision to replace both staff members in the program."

Hackl said that she believes some of the changes Ortiz has made have brought the program to a level above where it was previously.

"We want to bring a good light to victims," Ortiz said, "and to let them know that we're not here to get them in trouble, or we're not here to go after people. We are here to provide services and to make this traumatic event that they are going through as easy as possible.

"From now on, we're trying to bring more awareness about the services that we provide and the resources that we have. If there's a victim of domestic violence, they're already scared of their spouse or their family member that has done this awful thing to them, and probably, they're already scared of coming to court. So, we just want to put the word out there that we're here to help them, don't be afraid to reach out, and our doors are always open. A victim does not need an appointment to come and talk to us."

When Ortiz goes to court, she carries a pink bag filled with water bottles, tissues and notepads for victims to take notes on. Ortiz said that this not only helps the victims understand the case better, but also is important psychologically to give them some sense of control and understanding over a situation they often have little control over.

Ortiz is passionate about her work, and Hackl said she is impressed with how often and how hard Ortiz works to improve the program.

"When I see a victim that is struggling emotionally about the trauma that they went through, or they're struggling to understand the criminal justice system, I want to be there for them to help them every step of the way to, at least, make it easier to go through this, because I know it's not easy," Ortiz said. "That's my motivation."

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Noah Zahn is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's local government/business reporter. He can be reached at 307-633-3128 or nzahn@wyomingnews.com. Follow him on X @NoahZahnn.