About Us

We are a dedicated team committed to supporting victims of crime and anti-social behaviour across County Durham and Darlington, funded by the Durham Police and Crime Commissioner, Joy Allen.

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Our Story

Who We Are

We bring together an amazing skill set to offer specialist and sensitive services, reaching out to those who need us and adapting to our service user needs.

We are a team of qualified and experienced workers covering a breadth of disciplines. We are ambitious for ourselves, and our service-users and we work together to achieve positive change that we are all proud to be part of.

Our Skills

Some of these skills are described below.

Independent Stalking Advocacy Caseworker

An Independent Stalking Advocate (ISAC) provides victims of stalking with specialist independent support, advice, and advocacy. The ISA provides victims with a single point of contact, assess the risk and needs of the victim alongside addressing any support needs. Victims are provided with all the options available to them and what their rights are throughout the Criminal Justice process.

It is very important that the victim is given practical options such as, information about personal safety where this is required. The ISAC will complete a victim safety plan, that explores different areas of their lives, enabling the victim to feel more empowered and confident in safeguarding themselves. The ISAC will also be able to liaise with other agencies on behalf of the victim, if this is something that is required.

Victim Care Officer

The Victim Care Officer (VCO) is responsible for supporting people that have experienced or been affected by crime to help them cope with the immediate impact of the crime and assist them in their subsequent recovery. To achieve this, they will help victims to identify their coping and recovery needs and subsequently develop a jointly owned recovery plan that is suitable to the victims’ personal situation affected by crime and anti-social behaviour

They will provide this support for the victim whether the incident has been reported to the police or not. They will act as the single point of contact for victims from the initial engagement until the need for support from the Victim Care and Mentor Service has ended.

Criminal Justice Caseworker (CJC)

The Criminal Justice Caseworker (CJC) is there to support victims and witnesses throughout the Criminal Justice Process. Acting as a continuous point of contact to ensure victims and witnesses receive the practical help, emotional support, and information they may need that will allow them to cope and recover from the impact of their crime and to navigate through that court process.

The support can be face to face or via the telephone once your case has been charged and going through the court process. Support can include anything that helps the victim in what can be a daunting time, from information about the court process, help in preparing for hearings, trials, and sentencing, to safety planning, such as getting to and from court safely and accompanying victims and witnesses to court where appropriate. The CJC puts the wishes, needs and feelings of victims first ensuring victims and witnesses have a voice in the Criminal Justice System.

Crime Prevention Advice

A Crime Prevention Adviser is there to provide advice on home and personal security.  This can range from discussing your concerns over the phone to arranging a home visit whereby the Crime Prevention Adviser will survey your home and the surrounding areas and provide advice on steps you could take to make your home secure.  This advice will always be tailored to your needs and be financially feasible to your specific situation.  The Crime Prevention Adviser can also provide home and personal security equipment as well as make referrals to other agencies if further needs are identified.

So, the advisers have a level 3 qualification in crime prevention. This enables us to conduct a full site survey of a residential property (the survey can also be used for non-residential premises) by using the 10 principles of crime prevention. By carrying out a crime prevention survey we can help to target harden properties, provide information regarding crime prevention products and provide a range of items, such as window alarms, door alarms etc.

Restorative Justice Practitioner

Restorative Justice Practitioners enable those that have been affected by crime (victims) and those responsible (offenders) to communicate safely. They provide the opportunity for those involved to explain or hear the impact the crime has caused.

They can support victims in getting the answers to questions that only the offender can answer, this can be done through face-to-face meetings, indirectly through the practitioner or by other communication methods such as a letter. The practitioners are trained to ensure that any such approach is fully risk assessed and is carried out in a safe way.

FAQs

Please browse our FAQs below, and get in touch if you have any further questions.

General
Will you share information about me with other services?

We promise that all information you provide to us ‐ verbally or in writing ‐ will be kept confidential within the Victim Care and Advice Service.

This information will not be shared externally unless you expressly instruct us to do so or unless we are required to under law. We will take our time to establish the best way to communicate with you; for example, which email address, phone number or other contact method you want us to use.

We will take any other steps that you need us to take to protect your privacy.

General
Do you offer counselling?

The Victim Care and Advice Service is not a counselling service however following our needs assessment with you, if counselling is required then we can arrange for you to be referred to a counselling service.

General
Is there a cost to the service?

There is no cost, the service is free and confidential

General
If I have been a victim of crime do I have to report that crime to the police?

You are not legally bound to report your crime to the police however, investigating crimes, catching criminals and protecting the community is the police’s main job, but they also help victims and witnesses of crime.

Even if you do not report a crime as the victim, someone who saw what happened might do, so it’s likely that you will have to talk to police after a crime.

Want To Know More?

Get in touch with our team to find out how we can help you.