Victim Services
Crime can take a significant toll on victims , their loved ones , and their communities , leaving them with lasting emotional , psychological , physical , financial , and social impacts .
For more than three decades now , the Arlington Police Department ’ s Victim Services Unit has provided services and resources to victims and their family members , with the goal of lessening the short-term and longterm trauma experienced as a direct result of victimization .
Those services include crisis intervention counseling , criminal justice support and advocacy , referrals , and assistance filing victim ’ s compensation claims .
The unit is currently made up of eight employees . That includes six Victim Services Counselors who are available to respond to scenes and assist officers with victims of traumatic crimes , and a Youth and Family Specialist who provides targeted support for juveniles with behavioral health issues as well as juvenile victims of crime . All of the Victim Services Counselors have at least a Master ’ s Degree . The unit plans to hire additional team members in 2021 . The unit served 11,407 unduplicated victims in 2020 , a 16 percent increase from the previous year .
Victim Services works frequently with victims of domestic violence and continues to participate in a Co- Responder program called Project RAISE , which is designed specifically to help those affected by this type of crime .
Project RAISE focuses on the intervention of the top five repeat domestic violence locations within each of the city ’ s geographic districts per month .
The safety risk of each location is evaluated by monitoring the number of calls to a location , the history of violence at that location , and the severity of violence at that location . An in-depth assessment is followed
Victim Services Unit VS Department ’ s Existence = 34 years
8 Employees with a total of 51 years of experience
Annual average services provided to victims = 87,234
by a home visit from a Co-Responder team , which consists of a Victim Services Counselor and a specially trained patrol officer . Safety planning and crisis intervention is provided to the victim in order to provide a violence-free household .
This team made 185 home visits in 2020 .
Arlington , Texas Police Department |
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