A longstanding volunteer association that provided support for victims of crime in New Westminster is no more.
The New Westminster Victim Assistance Association has been dissolved following a review of its volunteer efforts coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New Westminster police board members received a report about the program at their July 25 meeting.
The New Westminster Victim Assistance Association was first formed in 1981 as a collaboration between the New Westminster Police Department, Probation Services and community members, with a goal to help support victims of crime and trauma.
A year later, a Victim Assistance Unit was created as part of the NWPD’s community services section, with work still being carried out by volunteers. It grew from there, receiving funding to hire a manager and a staff member, a complement that later grew to four full-time staff — with work supplemented by auxiliary members and volunteers.
But that arrangement grew problematic over the years, the report to the board notes, as some volunteer association auxiliary staff were taking on relief work for unionized police staff.
COVID-19 suspends volunteer program, prompts review
In March 2020, the volunteer program was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As it began to move out of pandemic restrictions in the fall of 2022, the Victim Assistance Unit coordinator undertook a review and analysis of the volunteer program.
A report coming out of that review noted the benefits of the volunteer program — including community engagement, visibility and representation in the community, and the availability of help outside of business hours.
But it also flagged some challenges with risk and liability, including the fact that volunteers may not have a comprehensive understanding of the criminal justice system and that they may not understand what information is and is not appropriate to release to clients.
There’s also the issue of potential risk to clients themselves.
“Occasionally volunteers will be in positions where the small decisions they make, while well intended, could increase client risk,” notes the report. “An example of this could be leaving a voicemail message for a victim of domestic violence where messages are not safe.”
Victim services work has grown more complex: report
The report acknowledged the dynamics of victim services work have changed greatly over the past several years.
While, in the past, victim service programs would support victims of one particular crime or incident, now they’re often dealing with overlapping complexities: trauma, mental health challenges, dual diagnosis, the opioid crisis, high-risk domestic violence and more.
“The complexities of these types of clients and files demand a highly educated and professional approach by victim services. This is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain with volunteer service delivery,” the report said.
Added to all of that, the report noted it has also become increasingly difficult to find volunteers to commit to specific hours over the long term — a problem not just for the New Westminster Police Department but across the board.
The result of all those challenges has been a move towards professionalizing victim services work; the report notes there are only a handful of police departments still using volunteers in their victim assistance programs.
New West victim assistance volunteers were 'trailblazers': chief
The New Westminster Police Department and the New Westminster Victim Assistance Association had discussions about ways for the association to remain involved in supporting victims of crime, but those discussions didn’t find a “workable solution” — and the association voted to dissolve in March of this year.
“They were truly trailblazers back when this program started,” Chief Const. Dave Jansen said at the July 25 police board meeting. “There was nothing of this kind around, and they really led the way and are at the heart of what now is the victim assistance program across the province.”
Jansen said it’s a compliment to the efforts of the association that the province and other police departments have now recognized the importance of victim support and the need for professionals to do that work.
Follow Julie MacLellan on Twitter @juliemaclellan.
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