NORFOLK, Neb. -- A two-day Family Violence Summit was held over the course of two days in Norfolk. The summit was collaboration between Northeast Nebraska Child Advocacy Center, Northeast Community College Department of Criminal Justice, and Bright Horizons.

The Summit, which is normally a one-day event, was held April 19 and 20 this year. Opening remarks on Tuesday were given by Norfolk Police Division Chief Don Miller, and on Wednesday by Norfolk Mayor Josh Moenning. 

Justin Fitzsimmons, Association Vice President of the National White Collar Crime Center, said that this was his second time coming to Northeast Community College to talk for the Family Violence Summit. The first time was about 10 years ago.

As the keynote speaker for Wednesday, Fitzsimmons started his talk with "When a Child Takes it Back: Recantation in Cases of Child Abuse and Prosecution of Cases with Limited Evidence on Your Own", for when a child takes back or recants what they said about abuse or assault. 

Fitzsimmons had break-out sessions for "Investigating and Prosecuting Authority Figure Cases" and "Smart Phones & Emerging Technology: Where are Tweens and Teens Going and What They're Doing in Our Digital Age."

"I hope to just raise awareness," said Fitzsimmons. "And just to present some, maybe, unique ways of looking at situations that often arise in investigating and prosecuting child abuse cases, maybe thinking outside the box."

Fitzsimmons said that looking outside the proverbial investigator box that they were trained in because the key to these cases is to corroborate the disclosure of the child. 

Recantation is seen in child molestation cases. Fitzsimmons covered that these are often on the more difficult side when it comes to how investigators and prosecutors go about the case. He said they are often more difficult because adults are the ones harming the child, and as the offenders, they live a dual lifestyle - often regarded as pillars of the community. 

Fitzsimmons touched on the topic of who may be in the room with the child when they suddenly recant, and how that person could have convinced the child to take back what they said.

"The hope is that through this morning and this afternoon, provide some ideas and things maybe they haven't heard before on ways to do that," said Fitzsimmons.

After his presentation about what investigators should do after a child recants their original disclosure. 

"We are going to talk about cases of limited evidence and what that actually means, and potentially avenues of evidence that could be useful," said Fitzsimmons. "Then we'll jump into this afternoon, talking about authority figures and what kinds of things to look for in those cases. Finally, we will finish up talking about technology and how digital evidence provides us just a world of corroboration if we look for it."

Fitzsimmons said that he wants to thank the investigators and the multi-disciplinary team that was in attendance. 

"It's a great community and it's awesome to see this response," said Fitzsimmons