Witness Care
A day in the life of.... A Witness Care Officer
As in common with all office workers – voicemail off and check for messages, power up computer (we are trying to save energy and the planet !) and open the diary to see what needs to be done today.
I have a message from an OIC (officer in charge of a case) asking for information regarding the possibility of a victim in a sexual assault case attending court for sentencing of the defendant, the problem being that she would not wish to be seen by him. I have not been a WCO (Witness Care Officer) for very long but other more experienced officers have previously suggested that this is not always a very good idea but I offer to contact the Witness Service in the relevant court for their advice.
The Witness Service Surrey is a support organisation run by a dedicated team of volunteers who help victims and witnesses attending court by explaining procedures, answering questions and showing people around the courtrooms and often providing emotional support on the day. They are there on the ground dealing with all the various situations that arise on a daily basis and are a tremendous support to us as WCO’s.
I speak with Linda and explain the situation and we discuss various options and possible complications but the call is ended with a warm offer to speak with the victim or show her around the court if she still felt she wished to do so. I then relay this information to the OIC who is grateful for the support.
As WCO’s we need to be especially careful with entries into our diaries as we need to produce timely information for the courts and lawyers concerning cases that have been allocated to us and also to keep in contact with witnesses involved in cases that are due to be coming to trial; arranging travel arrangements or possibly interpreters and chasing any have failed to communicate their acceptance to attend court.
Most of our time is spent speaking with victims and witnesses; reassuring and explaining information relating to their case, providing answers to their questions and trying to ascertain how we can best support them to give their evidence in a confident manner. Unfortunately there are quite a number who are reluctant to attend for a variety of reasons and trying to achieve a solution to these can take a considerable length of time and energy.
Some problems are relatively easy to solve i.e. childcare arrangements. We have the support of an Ofsted approved day nursery organisation for younger children or we can arrange expenses to be paid to family or friends prepared to take time out of work to provide childcare at home. Sometimes witnesses feel that they are to unwell to attend, or it may be that they simply need a taxi to bring them to court or have a chair available to them in the witness box. We try to explore exactly what the problems are and we can usually arrive at an acceptable solution. Quite often a look around an empty courtroom with the support of the Witness Service will make the whole experience much easier to handle.
In some situations the witness may be feeling very fearful of seeing the defendant again. If we felt that this is preventing them from attending court we would pass on this information to the caseworkers so that an application for screens or a video link can be made. Children and young adults (17 yrs and under) are automatically eligible for this service as is a referral to the NSPCC who offer excellent pre-court support to young witnesses and victims of crime. At other times there may be some ongoing intimidation taking place which we would forward to the OIC in the case so that he/she can make contact with them and arrange any further support that the police can provide.
As a unit we are not simply concerned with getting people to court, though that is mainly our role, but to explore how we can best support them through this time. Quite often we make referrals to other organisation such as Victim Support and the Domestic Violence Unit – ours is a collaboration of bespoke care.