Albuquerque center unites police, services to help victims of violence
In the criminal justice system, rape and domestic violence victims willing to come forward have had to tell their stories as many as six times.
First to detectives. Then nurses, service providers, prosecutors. And still others.
That's all going to change.
After a year of intense collaboration, Albuquerque police, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, the District Attorney's Office, State Police and area victim services groups have found a place that allows victims to tell their stories just once.
It's one floor within a 31,000-square-foot building.
It's called the Family Advocacy Center, at the northeast corner of Silver Avenue and Sixth Street Southwest.
In addition to the services for rape and domestic violence victims, the Police Department is moving 73 of its homicide, violent crimes and crimes against children detectives, plus school resource officers and others, to the building.
"So, it will be divided now (between) crimes against property and crimes against people," Police Chief Ray Schultz said, noting the change from the way the department has been organized for several decades.
The Sheriff's Department also is moving some of its detectives to the building.
The center is modeled after a similar building in Scottsdale, Ariz., where Schultz worked before taking his post here in spring 2005.
Officers from Scottsdale were on hand for the ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday morning to see what ideas they could take back home with them.
Scottsdale Sgt. Joseph LeDuc said Albuquerque's center is larger and more technologically advanced.
Schultz said while the idea for the one-stop shop for victims of violence was under discussion before he took his position, he was able to connect the Scottsdale unit with the movers and shakers in Albuquerque.
Work really got started on the project a year ago. Funding was solicited, with the United Way of Central New Mexico providing about $1 million in startup costs. Albuquerque taxpayers will be supplying $500,000 in rent for the next year at least.
Service providers - including the Rape Crisis Center, Enlace Communitario, Para Los Ni¤os, Legal Aid, S.A.N.E. nurses and the Asian Family Center - have offices along the freshly painted hallways.
State Children, Youth and Families Department employees also have office space in the center.
The center's concept and design is logical - and goes a long way in warming what is normally a "cold system" for victims, District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said.
"This will help in getting them (victims) invested in the system," she said.
The current system can be challenging for victims after deciding to come forward - a difficult decision in itself.
In the case of rape, the victim usually reports the crime to police, then is transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital, then sometimes back to the police station.
As the case progresses, victims meet with prosecutors in their office Downtown. Agencies offering counseling or help were scattered around town.
Now, said Sandra Esvarvida, the program director for S.A.N.E., whose nurses conduct the medical exam, any rape or molestation victim will be brought to the center.
There, an advocate from one of the service providers will join them to help them navigate the entire system.
"They will know that everyone is working together to help them in that difficult journey from victim to survivor," Esvarvida said.
LeDuc said that once victims in Scottsdale learned of his center, the number of reported crimes increased by more than 60 percent. He added that successful prosecution rates increased, because of closer ties between attorneys and detectives working in the center.
State Police Chief Faron Segotta said he expects the center to quickly earn a red-tape-free reputation that he hopes will bring in victims reporting attacks, assaults and molestation from throughout the city and from the surrounding counties.
Schultz said that reputation and the increased reporting of crime is exactly what he hopes for from the center.
"This will be a place where people can self-report, and where they can come and we can all share that interview," Schultz said. "And they can get help."
