BOZEMAN- The Bozeman and Montana State University police departments have partnered to create a Special Victims Unit (SVU).
The SVU will have detectives from both departments who work on major crimes happening on campus and within the city. Bozeman Police said the SVU will focus most of its time on child abuse and sexual assault cases in Bozeman.
Bozeman Police Detective Anthony Hutchings believes that by joining forces with MSU, SVU victims will feel more comfortable coming forward to report incidents.
"The reports that we do see involving sexual related crimes, we only get a fraction of them. So, in a perfect world and it’s not necessarily that it is increasing like they are happening more, but if we see an increase in reports, I think that would really show that we are making a difference. That people feel more comfortable coming forward, you know if they have gone through a traumatic incident like that, " said Hutchings.
Already one MSU Police Detective has been moved to the Bozeman Police Department in the Law & Justice Center to serve on the SVU.
According to police, SVU will work with Gallatin County Sexual Assault Response Team, the Multidisciplinary Team and the Child Advocacy Center in these cases as well.
