A helping hand to victims of crime
By Garnet Lewis
 Marisa Polidoro: providing services to victims of crime. |
The smiling faces and bright button eyes greet you as you enter the victim services office at Edmonton Police Headquarters. The shelves encircling the office are lined with teddy bears that catch you in their friendly glance. Black garbage bags bulging with more teddy bears are neatly piled in one corner.
Victim Services Unit volunteers give the soft and cuddly bears to people dealing with the aftermath of crime, natural disasters and other tragedies. They provide a small ray of sunshine in a dark day - a way to help the victims cope. The bears also symbolize the volunteers' genuine care and commitment.
Marisa Polidoro is one of those volunteers. She has donated her time and talents for 14 years. More than 1,500 dedicated volunteers donated a total of more than 200,000 hours to victim services programs across Alberta last year. That's almost 23 years of volunteer time in just one calendar year.
"I needed to do something that was stimulating and motivating. It's met those needs, to do something useful and be effective in the community," says Polidoro.
Volunteers provide crucial services to victims - everything from giving support or information for referrals or resources, to doing crisis intervention. "It frees up the police to go on to the next call. We're there for however long the victim needs us," says Polidoro.
Basic training for volunteers consists of two weekends learning how they can help victims and what additional services are available for victims. Topics include suicide, bereavement, domestic disputes and assessing needs. Workshops with police members or representatives from outside agencies are held a couple of times a month to provide additional training. Polidoro emphasizes, "We're not counsellors, (the training) is to understand the process."
| Victim
Services Numbers (2000/01) • 29,274 new cases • Over half (56.5%) of new cases involve assisting victims of violent crime • Services provided to 38,096 people, including 6,769 children • 1,506 volunteer advocates • 200,532 volunteer hours contributed • 2,555 victim impact statements completed Victim
Assistance Programs
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As a victim services volunteer, Polidoro sees the effects of crime and tragedy first hand - everything from sudden deaths to sexual assaults. While coping with those types of situations is often difficult, she says a support system is also in place for volunteers. They always work with a partner and there is a debriefing following every crisis intervention. "It's a big check-in to see how the call went and how we're coping with it."
The role of volunteers at victim services units has changed in the decade-and-a-half that Polidoro has been helping out. She says it's gone from simply following up police files to doing assessments, and court accompaniment. "It just keeps growing. It doesn't get old and it's sure not predictable," according to Polidoro.
Why does she do it? Polidoro says the rewards are tremendous. "Personally, it's really made me grow a lot and realize the potential we have within ourselves. Victims give you a thank you or a smile. That's the big reward - that we've made a difference, not just (providing) information, but just being there."
