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Victim Services marks 25 years in the community

The Victim Services branch of the RCMP marked a significant milestone Thursday, celebrating 25 years of support for the people of this community who are victims of crime, trauma and tragedy.

“They have an enormous impact,” said Superintendent Rob McCloy, the officer in charge of the Fort McMurray Detachment. “When we go to something as simple as telling a family that their loved one has deceased, and maybe it’s not from here but it’s from another area, it adds that compassion component. Our members are trained to deal with these types of instances but it’s just nice for people to have that non-uniformed, non-police entity in there and these employees are trained in the grief counselling and everything like that.”

McCloy said Victim Services is a fantastic addition to the work of the RCMP and is a collaborative, team effort that works well for the people it serves.

For the bulk of its existence Victim Services was its own separate society but it was brought under the umbrella of the RMWB this January in the hopes of enabling the group to do more with the resources it has.

“It’s taken a lot of people over the years to get us to the point that we are today,” said Kim Timmons, a crisis intervention support worker with Victim Services. “We are a very large Victim Services unit here. We respond in coordination and cooperation with the RCMP.”

They’re located just inside the Timberlea detachment of the RCMP and can be accessed at any time by a victim.

Timmons has been with Victim Services for more than six years here in Fort McMurray and she said the services are initially offered by the RCMP when they respond to a call. A person can refuse the help of Victim Services but can change their mind at any time and request the help when they need it.

Cst. Kandice Perry with the RCMP said it is also up to the responding officer to use their discretion when deciding whether to call Victim Services. If the officer feels the person doesn’t understand what is being offered or could benefit greatly from the services they can activate Victim Services.

“We take pride in our jobs, being able to go out there to assist people in their greatest hour of need,” said Timmons. “A lot of us are from different areas of the country and have moved to Fort McMurray to make our home so we don’t always have the neighbours that we’ve grown up with beside us. A lot of us are still strangers to many so, certainly in our hour of need, trauma and tragedy, we open our hearts and our arms to each other and support each other through times of crisis.”

The highly trained staff on the team help people in our community through a wide variety of challenges they face including notifying next of kin when there is a death, crisis intervention in cases of domestic abuse, stalking and harassment, dating violence, sexual assault, grief and trauma support, coping with stress, and help people through the arduous court process if charges are laid in their case.

“Probably one of the most difficult jobs that we have is doing notification of kin, what’s commonly referred to as an N.O.K. So, if we have a highway fatality or a work accident or a sudden death or a suicide, something like that occurs in the community and we’re engaged by the RCMP then we will attend the residence of the family members with the RCMP to notify the families that their loved one has died,” said Timmons, becoming emotional. “Certainly from my six years being here that’s something I’ve never gotten accustomed to. Certainly something I don’t think anyone ever will.”

When seeing a victim through the court process a Victim Services member may attend court on their behalf, act as a liaison between the victim and the Crown Attorney’s office, bring court updates to the victim, help them understand what to expect from a court proceeding, and provide emotional support through the process, even sitting with them through hearings and testimony.

The service relies heavily on volunteers in order to be able to operate 24/7 to support the people in our community which is something particularly important in a town where many people have moved far away from their families and home towns.

If you are interested in volunteering you can learn more online.

You can listen to the full interview with Kim Timmons here: