The North Bay Police Service is looking at educating its officers on how to deal with sexual assault and violent crime victims.
North Bay Police Chief Shawn Devine believes this is a priority for the Police Service.
“I am working with an educator. I believe an educator would be the best person to look at the information that has been compiled and be able to put it into a lesson plan. Police are good police, but we are not good teachers,” said Devine at the recent Police Board meeting last week.
Devine adds that the training will be unique to the North Bay Police Service.
“I think if we bring in a professional who says 'here are the teaching points' then we are going to start to deliver our own in-house training with regards to looking at best practices for dealing with people in trauma. And maybe at some time that will lead to something that we can share with the Ontario Police College but I am not waiting for that to happen. We are trying to do it within our own,” he said.
Devine believes officers need to learn how to be interviewers, not interrogators.
“We have had conversations with our officers in which we have to understand that when people are involved in serious events, whether that be sexual assault or even a traffic accident, we have to understand that their memory, the way that they see things, the way that they describe things, may be different from somebody who has not been traumatized,” noted Devine.
Devine feels the key is finding a way to treat victims with respect, while still trying to get the best disclosure and best information that the officer can then present at court.
Devine hopes to have training in place within the next six to eight months.
