DENVER — The National Center for SafeSport on Monday announced 10 changes to the way it operates aimed at increasing efficiency and “trauma sensitivity” while addressing complaints received from both victims and defendants. did.
The overhaul announcement came after the center said it had spent eight months reviewing a process that had been criticized by Congress, athletes in the Olympic movement and even families with children playing grassroots sports.
Some of the changes address issues raised in a series of Associated Press articles detailing long-running cases in which both victims and defendants often felt blindsided and unsure about the SafeSport process. It is.
Julies Colon, CEO of the center, which opened in 2017 in response to mismanagement in the Olympic movement, said: “We are proud of the progress we have made, but we are excited about the work ahead. I see it clearly,” he said. Larry Nassar sexual abuse case.
One key change is that the center will now devote half of its employees' time to training in its response and resolution department, “including enhanced trauma sensitivity training based on research and best practices.”
The center also has a team specializing in cases involving minors. Reporters will also be given the option to review the center's evidence and respond with new information within 14 days of the investigation being completed, before the person goes missing. It would limit a defendant's ability to introduce new evidence in a case that goes to arbitration.
The center is also “conducting audits to seek deeper accountability for grassroots sport”. This is in recognition of criticism that the center is taking on too many cases from locations far from the Olympic pipeline.
Workers constructing the stands for the upcoming Summer Olympics on the Champ de Mars, right next to the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, Friday, March 22, 2024. The 2024 Paris Olympics will be held from July 26 to August 11, 2024. Credit: AP/Michel Euler
“On the surface, this seems like a very good thing for us, because they're trying to figure out their process. “This is essentially an admission that things were not good.”
Her family has filed a lawsuit against the center after it sanctioned their son before conducting an investigation. The Associated Press is not publishing her name because her son is a minor.
Starting Monday, the center is reviewing so-called “administrative closures” to give sports organizations more clarity on the reasons for their results. Approximately 38% of the cases received by the center between 2017 and 2022 resulted in administrative closure, but this was because SafeSport made no findings, imposed no sanctions, and had no public record of the accusations. means. These outcomes could have significant costs for national governing bodies and could also cause confusion, as these bodies may seek to impose sanctions independently of the Center.
A Congressional-appointed committee recently released a report calling for changes at the center, including a proposal to seek funding from the government rather than the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, which the center oversees. .
The recommendation comes from an investigation that took more than a year and concluded that “new evidence reveals that SafeSport has lost the trust of many athletes,” the committee said in a report to Congress. It is stated in the report.
Colon appeared before two Congressional panels last week to preview some of the changes in real time.
