Carroll Ann Ellis heads the Fairfax County Police Department’s victim services unit, where she has been working for the past 20 years. The unit provides a variety of resources and services to crime victims, helping find their way through the complexities of the judicial system and providing counseling for those who need it.
What role does victim services play in the larger realm of law enforcement?
We are police personnel. We don’t carry guns, be we’re on call and have county vehicles so we can get to any crime scene in a heartbeat. We are at homicides, bank robberies, burglaries, almost every crime scene and make ourselves available to the victims. We really are part of the police department’s mission to provide full service to the county’s residents.
What do the unit’s members do when they work with a crime victim?
We have a staff of 11 and they work with individuals who have had their lives temporarily invaded by a crime. All staff members have a master’s degree in psychology and they’re trained specifically to work with crime victims to help them with their emotional response to the crime. But we also serve as their navigators through the criminal justice system. No one goes to school to learn how to be a crime victim, so we show them where to look if there’s been an arrest in their case, or how they can get their stolen property back. We also show them where and how to apply for victim relief funds.
This month is domestic violence awareness month and on Sunday your holding a walk to raise awareness about the connection between domestic violence and pet abuse. What is that connection?
Studies have shown that in many households where there are instances of domestic violence there’s a pet, the pet is often abused as well. Anger issues are often at the base of these cases and when people are attacked, their small friends often are, too.
