I'm excited about our new Victim Assistance Unit and how it's reaching out to victims of violent crime. It was one of my first priorities. Within three days of my appointment to Chief, I picked a director who could put the Victim Assistance Unit together. Check out this story about the Unit from our Informant newsletter:
Often before a detective is even assigned to an aggravated
assault case, a victim assistance specialist in the new Victim Assistance Unit
already has reached out to the victim.
The new unit is part of the Community Support Division and
went live on Sept. 9. It is staffed by three sworn officers and a civilian who
was a former officer and crime scene technician. But they don’t wear uniforms.
“We don’t say anything about being police officers or
detectives (when talking to victims),” Specialist Detective Jerry Grubb said.
“We just tell them we’re victim assistance specialists.”
Community Support Division Manager Doug Weishar said every
day, the specialists are assigned whatever aggravated assault cases took place
the night before. Oftentimes, their cases haven’t even been assigned to a
detective yet. The victim assistance specialists’ job is to contact the victims
and offer them three things:
1.) Information
on victim assistance, such as what their rights are by state statute and
information on victim compensation.
2.) Answers
to any questions they have about the criminal justice system and where their
case is in it.
3.) Assistance
with any needs regarding injuries or losses they sustained. The Victim
Assistance Unit has partnered with about 30 organizations throughout the City
that offer everything from trauma counseling to shelter.
Weishar said an ultimate goal of the unit is to have an
enhanced response to every violent crime victim in Kansas City, which would be
about 10,000 to 11,000 people per year. Victim Advocate Jennifer Miller
continues her work with the families of homicide victims, and the Victim
Assistance Unit is starting their work with aggravated assault victims. They
will expand to other violent crime victims soon.
Weishar said the victim assistance specialists are not
charged with convincing victims to prosecute their cases.
“Empathy and compassion are a good deal of what we do,” he
said. “Having said that, we realize some of them are suspects themselves. We
hope that by showing that kind of attention to them, we can subtly persuade
them to cooperate where they may not have before.”
Victim Assistance Specialist Officer Kevin White said he has
gone to hospitals to reach out to injured victims and their families. He
follows up with them to see how they’re recovering. Several of the people he’s
contacted have been surprised to hear from him.
“People on the phone are just shocked to hear the police
department call them to see how they’re doing,” Officer White said. “They
didn’t expect those phone calls.”
Victims already have taken advantage of services like trauma
and spiritual counseling, bilingual assistance and housing help.
“We don’t just give them a phone number to call,” Weishar
said. “We actually contact those community resources ourselves and find one
that agrees to assist them. Then we hand (the victims) off to them.”
With the help of the department’s Information Technology
staff, the victim assistance specialists can see what detectives have done on
the cases, and detectives can see what contact the specialists have had with
victims. But the specialists are careful not to get into the investigative
arena. Weishar said this is a different layer, and the specialists want to
develop trust with the victims.
Weishar said he eventually hopes to have trained volunteers
and college interns as part of the unit, enabling them to assist as many
violent crime victims as possible.
