Students helping crime victims
VOLUNTEERS WORKING ALONGSIDE POLICE AND COMMUNITY SAFETY PARTNERS
Students have been learning more about the effects of crime and anti-social behaviour on victims by becoming volunteers in communities where they live.
The pilot project, led by Sunderland City Council and supported by Northumbria’s Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Bird, recruited three students from Sunderland and Northumbria universities to be trained by community safety partners to become Anti-Social Behaviour Victim Volunteers.
The trained volunteers will complement the work of the local authority’s anti-social behaviour team, by providing practical and friendly support over the phone or in person to low and mediumrisk victims.
All are full-time students studying criminology,social work (MA) and psychology, who were recruited after a stringent selection process.
After completing a inducsive tion programme in which they shadowed Sunderland City Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) officers and their neighbourhood policing colleagues, they met with people who work in this field and went through an inten- training programme.
All three, Emma Bontempi, 32, from Sunderland, studying criminology at Sunderland University, Bethany Hellawell, 21, from Whitby, studying psychology at Northumbria University, and Kayley Walker, 31, from South Shields, studying an MA in social work at Sunderland have now completed their training.
Chairman of the Safer Sunderland Partnership and deputy leader of Sunderland City Council Councillor Harry Trueman said: “By becoming part of the process to help victims as volunteers, our three academics will be able to draw upon their experiences when they become qualified practitioners and better understand the emotional and social needs of those affected by crime and anti-social behaviour.”
Bethany said: “I became a volunteer because I thought it was important to properly understand a job in the criminal justice system before applying for one after university. Academic work prepares you for some things but not the kind of understanding you gain from hands-on participation.”
Kayley added: “This opportunity has highlighted that anti-social behaviour can have a huge impact on the victims’ lives and I hope that by volunteering I can be an empathetic ear and help them to get through their experience.”