Crime victim program wins award

Iowa’s Crime Victim Compensation program has won a prestigious award fromthe National Organization for Victim Assistance. The award recognizes theIowa program as tops in the nation. The director of the Iowa Crime VictimAssistance program, Marti Anderson says they won award because of theirability to react quickly to the needs of crime victims.Anderson says crime victim assistance in other states can takes months toline up. In Iowa, the average turn-around time is six weeks.Anderson says her staff verifies the crime, the damages and whether thecrime victim is receiving benefits from any other means, like insurance.The crime victim assistance program runs on the court-ordered fines andpenalties paid by criminals.