Crime victims program starts off slow

Service provides support in 'intimidating' criminal justice process

MOSES LAKE — When the North Columbia Community Action Council launched its crime victim advocates program, Ken Sterner predicted that there would be a "dam break" of need.

The program's services differ from advocacy and the services provided by New Hope Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, but primarily involve working with local attorneys to assist victims with emergency legal issues.

In the three months since, the amount of demand hasn't exactly been the flood that Sterner, NCCAC executive director, and his team, community services director Thomas Bonnington, and crime victim advocates Vicki Gamboa and Brandy West, were anticipating.

"Actually, I'm kind of surprised — the dam is breaking, but it's breaking slower than we anticipated," Sterner said. "For years, there really hasn't been any services, and I think people are still a little bit stunned, for lack of a better word, that there are actually services available to victims and their family."

Sterner said that it takes a while to generate the kind of referral process from those agencies that he had been expecting right out of the starting gate, but noted the program has been involved in some high-profile cases, and been able to access thousands of dollars to victims and their families in a variety of services not typically accessible.

"Most of our time has been spent primarily doing outreach to local community groups, making them aware of what our services are and what we have available," Sterner said. Time has also been spent reaching out to law enforcement agencies and the county attorneys' offices in Grant and Adams counties.

Educating people on the existence of the program is a hurdle to overcome on local, state and national levels, Sterner continued. The council has been working with a state-sponsored committee to develop guidelines on the state level for the program.

"It's so new that even the state's guidelines are still in the process of being developed, and we're part of that process," he said.

Bonnington said the number of reported crimes in Grant and Adams counties is more than the population of Lincoln and Whitman counties, so there was concern about how to handle even one-tenth of the victims.

"I think at this point, it's an educational process to the public, to let them know that if something happens, you can call," Bonnington said.

Gamboa came aboard the program from a temporary position at New Hope Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault because she had always wanted to get into the line of work.

"For me, it was helping people," she said. "I've never been in a job where I was able to help people, I was always on the other side of the desk."

West thinks helping people has always been a passion of hers.

"I feel like this agency, no matter what it does, no matter what program it is, their genuine interest is to help the community," she said, adding she thinks word of mouth will help people understand the services the program provides.

Services include assisting a victim in reporting an assault to the police, being present during a police interview, accompanying them as they walk into a courtroom, injury compensation and mental health counseling.

"I think a lot of times, when that victim is able to talk to someone, just by talking to them, the advocate can give them ideas on who to contact if financially we cannot do it, just let them know that there's someone there willing to listen to them," Gamboa said.

"The whole criminal justice process is very intimidating," West agreed. "It's not victim-friendly."

Sterner thinks it's just a matter of time before the dam does break.

"I think that maybe we set our sights a little high," he said. "Ultimately, we found out we had to do a lot more outreach to the community just to convince them that there really was a way for victims to receive some kind of assistance and service. I think it's the convincing part that's taken us so much of the time. It's almost a too-good-to-be-true-type of activity."

For more information, call NCCAC at (509) 765-9206 or toll free at (866) 846-7895.