Department of Defense
INSTRUCTION
NUMBER 5505.19
February 3, 2015
Incorporating Change 2, March 23, 2017
IG DoD
SUBJECT: Establishment of Special Victim Investigation and Prosecution (SVIP) Capability
within the Military Criminal Investigative Organizations (MCIOs)
References: See Enclosure 1
1. PURPOSE. This instruction:
a. Establishes policy, assigns responsibilities, and provides procedures for the MCIOs to
implement a special victim capability in accordance with the authority in Appendix 3 of Title 5,
United States Code (U.S.C.) (Reference (a)) and DoD Directive (DoDD) 5106.01 (Reference (b))
and pursuant to section 573 of Public Law (P.L.) 112-239 (Reference (c)).
b. Implements the investigative portion of Reference (c) requiring each Military Service to
establish a special victim capability comprised of specially trained MCIO investigators, judge
advocates, paralegals, and victim witness assistance personnel to support victims of covered
special victim offenses. To avoid confusion with Special Victims’ Counsel programs, this
capability will be referred to as the SVIP capability.
c. Incorporates and cancels Directive-type Memorandum (DTM) 14-002 (Reference (d)).
2. APPLICABILITY. This instruction applies to OSD, the Military Departments, the Office of
the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Staff, the Combatant Commands, the
Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (IG DoD), the Defense Agencies,
the DoD Field Activities, and all other organizational entities within the DoD (referred to
collectively in this instruction as the “DoD Components”).
3. POLICY. It is DoD policy that:
a. A timely, effective, worldwide SVIP capability consisting of specially trained MCIO
investigators will work collaboratively with assigned SVIP personnel from other disciplines and
investigate all covered offenses that occur within their jurisdiction as established by existing
Service and MCIO guidance, subject to limitations concerning use of Restricted Reports.
