Victim Support Unit attends to trauma
Linden — Volunteers' primary function is to offer support and counselling for victims of crime.
The prevalence of crime in our country has increased over the years, leaving many unhappy victims. Yet good samaritans have dedicated their time and resources to offer assistance to victims of crime.
Co-ordinator of the Victim Support Unit that serves the Linden Police and Blairgowrie Residents Against Crime, Bev Boswell (62) has been an active member since 2003.
“The Linden Police station and CPF works closely with the victim support group. Volunteers go through a training session in a day, and are then allocated to different crime scenes according to their profile,” she said. After training the volunteers go to three to four crime scenes with an experienced victim supporter, until such time they are assigned to a crime scene alone.
Boswell described that the primary function of the volunteers is to be of assistance to victims of crime who have experienced trauma.Victims would benefit from having someone deal with not only their emotional state, but also with minimising their stress such as providing rape kits for rape victims or making sure their loved ones are aware of what happened to them.
After the initial call from the Linden Police about a crime, Boswell assigns a victim supporter to the crime scene based on the nature of crime. In the event of a victim needing additional counselling, Boswell assigns them to a qualified psychologist for further counselling.
Patricia Lammerinks (55) has been a victim support counsellor since 2004. She said anyone can be a victim of crime. During the period nearing the Christmas season, Lammerinks advised the public to be extra vigilant in their surroundings.
“During the pre-Christmas season there are increased cases of hijackings, housebreakings and common robberies. We urge women specifically to make sure they are not being followed when driving into their driveways and to make sure they don’t carry large amounts of money when shopping and to make sure that their bags are closed,” she said.
Details: Victim Support 011 783 8776, Linden Police 011 888 9213 , Bev Boswell 073 447 4451.
