Whenever someone calls the hotline, they will be able to confidentially report incidents of sexual assault or harassment that occur at VA facilities. The call center will be ready to answer the phones 24/7, and follow-up health care and support will also be made available to those in need.

This new capability is part of VA’s “no wrong door” reporting policy for sexual assault or sexual harassment. Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors are also encouraged to report incidents of sexual harassment or sexual assault as soon as they occur, including while they are still at the VA facility. These incidents can be reported directly to VA police, VA staff, or local law enforcement, and now also by calling 1-800-MyVA411.

“Maintaining a safe and welcoming environment at all VA facilities for Veterans, their caregivers, volunteers, visitors, and employees is a key priority for the Department,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough. “By creating multiple avenues for persons to report sexual harassment or sexual assault incidents, the VA removes barriers to reporting and creates a quicker path for VA to investigate and take appropriate action.”

VA has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual assault and sexual harassment, which means VA expects and actively works to create a culture free of such incidents. VA believes that reacting to sexual harassment and assault is not enough; instead, VA must achieve and sustain a proactively inclusive culture — supported by Veteran and employee-centered policy, operations, engagement, training, and technology — such that VA prevents sexual harassment and sexual assault and ensures an excellent experience for each person VA serves and employs.

In addition to implementing this hotline, VA has taken many steps in recent years to prevent and address sexual harassment and sexual assault at VA facilities, and to support survivors. These steps include designating points of contact at VA facilities to accept reports of harassment from Veterans and visitors; implementing Veteran safety surveys; providing bystander intervention training for staff and Veterans; encouraging employees and Veterans to take the White Ribbon VA Pledge to never commit, excuse, or stay silent about sexual harassment, sexual assault, or domestic violence; and requiring facility remediation plans for those that obtain five or more founded sexual assault or sexual harassment incidents during a fiscal year.

VA also has an active Secretary’s Working Group on Sexual Assault and Harassment Prevention — a group of Veterans Service Organization representatives, advocates, State Directors of Veterans Affairs, Tribal representatives, VA employees serving in a personal capacity, and survivors of sexual assault and harassment. The input of this group, in addition to VA’s ongoing Veteran engagement and outreach efforts, is informing VA’s way forward.

MyVA411 was launched in 2019 and served more than 1.5 million Veterans in fiscal year 2022. Customer Service Representatives answer inquiries, provide directory assistance, document concerns about VA care, benefits, and services, and expedite the referral and resolution of those concerns in addition to processing sexual harassment and sexual assault reports.

To learn more about reporting incidents of sexual harassment or sexual assault, visit VHA’s Assault and Harassment Prevention Office Website. For more information about the MyVA411 contact line, visit 1-800-MyVA411: One phone number to reach VA.

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RIVERSIDE (CNS) – Riverside County supervisors signed off today on an Executive Office response to a grand jury report critical of the way the Department of Animal Services handles payments collected by its officers in the field, citing safety and efficiency concerns.

On a 5-0 vote without comment, the Board of Supervisors certified the county’s answer to the civil grand jury, which is near the end of the last fiscal year issued findings that focused on alleged deficiencies regarding how payments are collected and processed by animal control officers.

The county’s three-page answer to the panel stated that the issues which jurors found concerning have either been resolved or are close to resolution.

The 19-member grand jury, which has Superior Court authority to investigate almost any matter of concern in county government, said it could not identify a specific written policy establishing how animal control officers are supposed to manage receipt of payments for various services while in the field, including pet surrender fees, owner redemption fees, and euthanasia fees, all of which can run anywhere between $40 and $150.

The main concern pertained to cash handling and how officers secure cash to ensure it isn’t lost or stolen. According to Executive Office staff, a policy does exist, and it instructs officers to lock money inside a box bolted inside each animal control patrol vehicle. Accepting credit card payments in the field, which would likely eliminate cash transactions, remains a challenge because most of the county’s three-dozen animal control officers are not trained to use Internet-based software that can be loaded onto their tablet devices to process charge card payments.

Officials said the Department of Animal Services is working to have all officers trained in the mobile Converge credit processing system by Dec. 31.

The grand jury concluded that the cash-based system was “cumbersome and unsafe,” with many officers and supervisory personnel unhappy with managing and keeping track of dollar bills. Jurors also found how receipts are recorded in the department’s database to be “time-consuming and inefficient.”

Executive Office staff said that, even with full implementation of the mobile processing system in the field, all types of transactions will still need to be entered into the agency database.

“Without this information, no official record will exist of the transaction,” the staff wrote. “These records are vital to know the status of animals, such as if they are licensed, have bitten anyone in the past, or have violations of law pending against them.”

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Search: Board Approves Answer to Grand Jury

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