DESCRIPTION: |
 If you are the victim of crime you are likely to be traumatised. In the past, a police station was not a place where victims, particularly of violent crimes, could feel comfortable giving their statements to police, nor could they get counselling there for the trauma they were experiencing.The Department of Community Safety has therefore been funding 'trauma rooms', also known as 'victim comfort rooms', 'victim support rooms' or 'safe rooms' in each police station in the Western Cape. Almost all full police stations (but not satellite police stations) now have a trauma room; there are 129 trauma rooms in the Western Cape. The room is supposed to be more private than the charge office, and also more comfortably furnished. Although each trauma room is different, once the process of establishing the rooms is complete, each trauma room should have a specially trained police officer, a professional counsellor and trained volunteers available. The Department of Community Safety has begun the process of training volunteers in batches. The NGOs, the National Institute for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of Offenders (NICRO) and the Trauma Centre, are both assisting with training volunteers and setting up the rooms. At the moment the facilities and the help you can get vary from trauma room to trauma room. Some of the counsellors or volunteers may also not be there all the time, but are on standby, and have to be telephoned to come and help when necessary. The NGO Rape Crisis has done an audit of the current state of trauma rooms to find out who is available to help victims in each trauma room and what kinds of training they have. You can click here to see what help you can get in your police station. If you are unable to get help at your police station or do not want to get help there, the Cape Town NGO the Trauma Centre also provides free counselling for victims of violent crime. |
INSTRUCTIONS: |
Once you have reported the crime committed against you in the charge office at the closest police station, you should ask to go to the police station's trauma room to give your full statement there, if you are feeling traumatised. If you need counselling, you should ask if any counsellors or volunteers are available at the trauma room or are on standby and have the police telephone them to come and help you. If you would like to volunteer to assist in the trauma rooms, you can contact the station commander of your nearest police station. You must bring along some sort of identification, and know at what times you might be available to help. The police will do a background check on you and will start you as a volunteer for a probation period. You will unfortunately only get training, if you don't already have a professional qualification, only when it is the turn of that police station to have training, as the training is being done in batches. If you any queries, suggestions or complaints about trauma rooms, you can contact: Julia Ndlovu If you would like to get counselling from the Trauma Centre, you can contact: Nomfundo Walaza (Director)Trauma Centre For Survivors Of Violence And Torture Cowley House, 126 Chapel Street, Woodstock, Cape Town PO Box 13124, Woodstock, 7915 Tel: 021 465 7373 Fax: 021 462 3143 nomfundo@trauma.org.za |
PROVIDED AT: |
These facility categories: |
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GOVERNMENT BODY:
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Department of Community Safety (Provincial Government of the Western Cape) |
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Cape Gateway is a government service aimed primarily at citizens of the Western Cape, providing information on local, provincial and national government |  |