2023 Crime Victims Service Awards

This award recognizes an individual or group that has made a significant difference for victims of crime. (Individual, Employer or Business, Organization, or other contributor)

Cristina Janney has almost 30 years experience in working in Kansas media. She was recently appointed to serve as the editor of the Hays Post. Cristina has been with Eagle, the parent company of Hays Post, since 2017 and has contributed countless articles to the publication. She has also been a featured voice on Eagle radio stations, including 94.3 KAYS, 99.5 KHAZ, 103.3 KJLS, 96.9 KFIX and 101.9 KKQY, delivering news reports and in-depth interviews with government and business leaders. Janney, a native Kansan and a resident of Hays, received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Kansas State University.

Cristina has written many articles on rape, domestic violence and human trafficking while at the Hays Post. In early 2023, she wrote a two-part series about reporting and prosecution rates for rape and sexual assault in Ellis County. Cristina partnered with Options Domestic and Sexual Violence Services, which provides victims advocacy in northwest Kansas, on the “What Were You Wearing?” art exhibit.  The exhibit attempts to break the stereotype that what an individual was wearing contributed to their rape. Each art exhibit included outfits that represent those worn by sexual assault victims. The clothing display exhibits were accompanied by written statements from the victims. Cristina enlisted the support of her radio colleagues at Eagle to provide voice recordings of these statements, to enhance the viewers’ experience.

Jennifer Hecker, Executive Director of Options, who nominated Cristina, says “Because of her efforts to rally her colleagues around this cause, our display hit a record attendance - educating even more people in our community about the harmful effects of rape myths. The stories she and her colleagues recorded brought depth, emotion, and humanity to each victim's story. Cristina's participation in this project has been instrumental in raising awareness about sexual violence in our community and giving a voice to those who have been silenced for far too long.”

Hecker further shared “Cristina's leadership in the community to use her platform is both inspiring and impactful. She uses her time, talents, and influence to raise awareness about domestic and sexual violence in our community, never shying away from difficult topics.”

This award recognizes individuals who made a positive contribution regarding the needs of victims or offender accountability within the criminal justice response. (Law Enforcement Officer, Prosecutor, Judge, Probation/Parole)

Garen Honn is a Lieutenant Detective with the Coffey County Sheriff’s Office. Beginning with Coffey County in 2014, Garen was promoted to K9 Handler in 2015, Detective in 2018 and Lieutenant Detective in 2019. With over 17 years in law enforcement, Garen’s career primarily centered on criminal investigations. Garen participated in undercover narcotics operations, correctional institution narcotics investigations, and child sex crimes. On multiple occasions, law enforcement agencies across Kansas reached out to Garen for assistance with a child sex crimes investigation.

In January 2023, Garen became an Advanced Certified Examiner for the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer (CVSA) after successful completion of a series of trainings with the National Institute of Truth Verification (NITV) Federal Services. Garen’s professional training includes courses from the national Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Kansas Bureau of Investigations (KBI); Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center (KLETC); and the Kansas Narcotics Officers Association. In 2022, Garen completed the FBI-LEEDA Leadership Trilogy course which includes Supervisory Leadership, Command Leadership, and Executive Leadership Institutes. 

Garen is passionate about making successful connections with people in and around his community. Garen works to create connections with whomever he is talking to, whether it is the alleged perpetrator, a family member or the victim of the crime. Garen acknowledges how significant this approach is with his work with child victims of crime. Garen explains that by creating the experience of “having someone they can speak to and share the truth can make the biggest difference in a case and for a family”. Garen shares “I want to do everything I can to help as much as possible to get justice for the victims, and that starts with people and who they are.”

In 2018, Garen became a member of the Coffey County Multi-disciplinary Team. Connie Cahoone, Executive Director of SOS, Inc., nominated Lieutenant Detective Honn for his assistance in strengthening the Child Advocacy Center’s service delivery for abused children; and for his leadership in the successful implementation of a Domestic Violence Lethality Assessment protocol for Coffey County in 2022. Cahoone shared that “Lieutenant Detective Honn possesses a special skill set, one defined by empathy and equity in the pursuit of justice, and therefore demonstrates a genuine desire to support victims by holding offenders accountable.” Cahoone further remarked “Honn provides outstanding service for local crime victims through his tireless work ethic, an unwavering commitment to protect and serve.”

This award recognizes a community-based victim advocate for outstanding work in improving the lives of crime victims.

Emily Selby is the Director of Stepping Stones Child Advocacy Center (CAC) in Manhattan. Emily received a bachelor's degree in Family Studies and Human Services from Kansas State University in 2011. She began her career in child welfare as a foster care worker in 2014. Emily, recognizing the need for resources, became a foster parent in 2016. She began working as a Family and Victim Advocate for Stepping Stones in 2017. In 2018, she took a position with the Kansas Attorney General’s Office as a Sexual Assault Victim Advocate through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) project. Emily began as the Director and only forensic interviewer at Stepping Stones in January 2020. In August of 2020, Emily finalized the adoption of her two daughters, Dana and Kentania. Emily served as a board member of the Kansas Organization for Victim Assistance (KOVA) from 2019-2022, serving as President from 2020-2021.

Since she began as Director, Emily has increased the CAC’s capacity for service with two additional Forensic Interviewers/Family Advocate positions; and strengthened and expanded the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) to include Department for Children and Families (DCF), the county attorney, law enforcement, mental health providers, and additional system partners. Emily reflects that “healing and justice for families happens best when all members of the team – CAC, law enforcement, DCF, mental health, medical, prosecution, and other involved agencies – are collaborating and working together, having courageous conversations, and supporting one another.”

Additional accomplishments include successfully attaining reaccreditation with the National Children’s Alliance in 2022; developing a partnership with the Ft. Riley Army Garrison in order to seamlessly serve Ft. Riley child victims and their families through Stepping Stones CAC; and most recently laying the groundwork to establish a multi-disciplinary team in neighboring Geary County through a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with key stakeholders.

In her work at Stepping Stones, Emily has conducted over 280 forensic interviews and testified in jury trials in multiple counties. While this work is difficult, Emily’s greatest honor is “providing children the space to tell what happened to them and playing a small role in their path to healing and justice.”

Carson Kober, Executive Director of Sunflower Children’s Collective, who nominated Emily, reflects that Emily has “created a far more trauma-informed agency and continues to research ways to provide more in the way of advocacy for the children interviewed at the CAC and their families. Ms. Selby is an amazing advocate for the child victims and the families served by Stepping Stones CAC.”

This award recognizes a system-based victim advocate for outstanding work in improving the lives of victims of crime.

Natassia Records is a Victim Advocate with the Special Victims Unit (SVU), Investigations Division at the Lawrence Police Department. Natassia began as a Victim Advocate in 2020, a position created by a partnership between the Lawrence Police Department and The Willow Domestic Violence Center. The goal of the Victim Advocate position was to establish a system of outreach and victim assistance within the department. Natassia’s success providing victim advocacy led to the creation of a permanent position with the department in November 2021. Natassia assists victims of sexual and domestic violence navigate the criminal justice process, assessing safety concerns, and connecting with community resources as needed.

Natassia holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from The University of North Texas. After serving in the United States Navy and graduating from college, Natassia worked as a probation officer supervising high risk domestic violence offenders and later as a court officer specializing in pre-sentence investigations and providing the court rehabilitative recommendations for offenders.

From her work in the courts, Natassia learned how the absence of victim advocacy in the criminal justice system negatively impacted the victims of the offenders she worked with. This is the foundation that fuels Natassia’s commitment and passion for integrating victim assistance within law enforcement and working to foster collaborative and multifaceted change.

Adam Heffley, Deputy Chief of Police, identified that Natassia’s efforts to establish a Domestic Violence Outreach Team “allowed the department to increase our capacity in supporting victims as they work through the criminal justice system and is actively bringing community service providers together to produce better long-term outcomes, including prosecution of cases.” Furthermore, Natassia was instrumental in the department’s implementation of a lethality assessment protocol for victims of domestic violence, which focuses on victim safety and connection with resources in the community.   Natassia worked to expand victim services to all victims of crime by proposing a second advocate position within the department.

Nominations received from her fellow law enforcement partners and a victim’s family member describe numerous examples of Natassia’s work as going “above and beyond” in assisting victims of crime “navigate their trauma, find resources, attend court, and help be a voice to those who are terrified to speak on their own.”