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Sheriff seeks volunteers to assist crime victims
By Peter Jones
The Arapahoe County Sheriff’s 2009 Fall Volunteer Victim Assistance Training Academy is approaching.
Since 1986, the program has provided 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week crisis response for crime victims and other individuals involved in traumatic events in unincorporated Arapahoe County and the City of Centennial.
Volunteers are trained to provide crisis intervention and short-term support. They also offer information on referrals, victim rights and victim compensation and assist in the transition to the criminal-justice system, therapy and other resources.
The volunteers essentially help crime victims and other affected parties while officers try to apprehend suspects or otherwise solve the crime, according to coordinator Kathleen Beebe.
“Officers have a job,” she said. “Counseling and supporting victims is part of that job, but it’s not their priority when they’re looking for the person who just assaulted this victim. They need someone there to be with that victim, to explain to them what’s going on, to get them shelter and get their personal support system involved.”
The program currently has 25 volunteers and needs about 5 to 15 more. A shortfall is the result of the economy, which has led some to seek part-time jobs, instead of volunteer work, according to Beebe.
The next 10-week training for volunteer victim advocates will take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning in late August and will continue through November.
Fifty hours of training is followed by meetings on the first Monday evening of each month. The training tends to weed out applicants who are not ready for the stress of the job, according to Beebe.
“Very seldom have we ever had to release someone from the program,” she said. “The training is so intense that if they can’t cut it, they know it in the training and they leave themselves. It can be very stressful.”
Advocates sign up for on-call shifts two days a month — either a weeknight 12-hour shift or weekend 24-hour shift.
To request an application packet, call 720-874-4038.
Applicants must submit to a background investigation, including an “integrity interview,” a polygraph examination and fingerprint clearance.
Felony and DUI arrests are disqualifiers, though a misdemeanor record is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, according to Beebe.
“We have the same background requirements that the sheriff’s office has for hiring procedures,” she said.
For more information, call Beebe at 720-874-4190.
Since 1986, the program has provided 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week crisis response for crime victims and other individuals involved in traumatic events in unincorporated Arapahoe County and the City of Centennial.
Volunteers are trained to provide crisis intervention and short-term support. They also offer information on referrals, victim rights and victim compensation and assist in the transition to the criminal-justice system, therapy and other resources.
The volunteers essentially help crime victims and other affected parties while officers try to apprehend suspects or otherwise solve the crime, according to coordinator Kathleen Beebe.
“Officers have a job,” she said. “Counseling and supporting victims is part of that job, but it’s not their priority when they’re looking for the person who just assaulted this victim. They need someone there to be with that victim, to explain to them what’s going on, to get them shelter and get their personal support system involved.”
The program currently has 25 volunteers and needs about 5 to 15 more. A shortfall is the result of the economy, which has led some to seek part-time jobs, instead of volunteer work, according to Beebe.
The next 10-week training for volunteer victim advocates will take place on Tuesday and Thursday evenings beginning in late August and will continue through November.
Fifty hours of training is followed by meetings on the first Monday evening of each month. The training tends to weed out applicants who are not ready for the stress of the job, according to Beebe.
“Very seldom have we ever had to release someone from the program,” she said. “The training is so intense that if they can’t cut it, they know it in the training and they leave themselves. It can be very stressful.”
Advocates sign up for on-call shifts two days a month — either a weeknight 12-hour shift or weekend 24-hour shift.
To request an application packet, call 720-874-4038.
Applicants must submit to a background investigation, including an “integrity interview,” a polygraph examination and fingerprint clearance.
Felony and DUI arrests are disqualifiers, though a misdemeanor record is evaluated on a case-by-case basis, according to Beebe.
“We have the same background requirements that the sheriff’s office has for hiring procedures,” she said.
For more information, call Beebe at 720-874-4190.
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