AD
The Elizabethtown Police Department gave community partners the opportunity to view their new victim interview room during an unveiling event Thursday.
EPD Victim Services Specialist Anesha Knott said when Elizabethtown Police Chief Jeremy Thompson hired her, he said she had a blank slate to figure out the best ways to serve victims of crime.
“Over the first year, starting from November of 2023 through last fall, we had a couple of incidents that really popped up and hit at home with us, that were larger incidents that we were like okay, we need a place for kids to be safe here in the PD and we need a place for victims to be interviewed where they feel safe and secure and they feel comfortable talking to the law enforcement officer that’s investigating their case,” Knott said.
Knott secured grant funding to convert one of the standard EPD interview rooms into a more comfortable atmosphere. The grant funding also allowed the EPD to purchase items such as toys, cots, and playpens for when children need to be at the police department for long periods of time along with resources for victims such as emergency housing and emergency cell phone service.
“We’re trying to make things to where it’s more comfortable for the victim, that they have what they need, and they’re more comfortable and feel safer and they can move forward and keep engaging in that process,” Knott said.
Thompson said all divisions of the police department work with victims in some way, but having a dedicated victim services position opened the door for the department to better provide help.
“We like to provide information,” Thompson said. “We like to provide that follow up, but everybody within this role has a cog in the wheel, and that’s not the one that we do the best. It just isn’t, so that’s why we here at the Elizabethtown Police Department have prioritized Anesha’s position.”
The room renovation and other purchases were made possible by a grant from the women-led philanthropic initiative Heels Together.
AD
Post comments (0)