A statewide victims advocacy group has named Commander Doug Eckert as an “Agent of Change” in the community who is working to create positive change to end sexual violence in New Orleans. Eckert, who leads the department’s investigations into reports of sexual assault and domestic violence, is highlighted in this month’s Sexual Trauma & Awareness & Response, or STAR blog.

In the piece, Eckert describes the close relationship his team has with STAR and how it has helped SVS detectives improve their relationship with sexual assault survivors.

“My motivation comes from the survivors of sexual assault who have not had the opportunity to get the conclusion they should receive,” said Eckert. “I constantly look at what was done that could have been done better, and what could have been done that wasn’t done. I try to improve on the past to be better each day.”

Click here to read the whole piece by STAR

Eckert played a major role in reforming how the department responds to sexual assault over the past two years. In an audit released earlier this year, New Orleans Inspector General Ed Quatrevaux reported that the NOPD made a ‘remarkable turnaround’ in how the department documents and reports sex crimes when compared to a previous audit in 2014.