Strathcona County sexual assault centre offers reporting room as alternative to police station

An Edmonton-area sexual assault centre says an in-house reporting program it launched this year that allows victims to avoid visiting a police station was necessary as reporting rates rise.

“More people have been coming forward in the last five years,” said Kiara Warkentin, the director of justice at the SAFFRON Centre in Sherwood Park.

“Since 2016 and the #MeToo movement, our call volume went up 200 per cent, and the number of people reporting to the RCMP nearly tripled.”

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SAFFRON Centre’s satellite reporting room offers a comfortable space in a familiar setting and was developed in partnership with Strathcona County RCMP.

“We’ve always had a relationship with the RCMP, it just so happens in the last couple of years we’ve really started strengthening that,” Warkentin said. “We started having a conversation with each other about how we can start increasing options for survivors who want to come forward.”

While the RCMP detachment also offers a “softer” reporting room with couches, Warkentin said that the more options for victims, the better.

“Our goal with the RCMP was just to provide more informed choice and to put some control back into the hands of survivors (in) choosing how they report,” Warkentin said.

RCMP helped properly equip the room with camera and recording equipment used by law enforcement when taking complaints. The reporting room was designed to resemble a therapy room and is often used for that purpose by the in-house therapists at the centre.

An RCMP officer conducts the interview, but an advocate from SAFFRON will sit in if needed.

While the crimes reported in the room have to be sexual in nature and must have occurred in the Strathcona County jurisdiction, Warkentin said the group would “love to expand” it to include other regions like Edmonton.

Nearly four in 10 Canadian women over the age of 16 have experienced sexual assault.

Those looking for help in the Strathcona County region can contact SAFFRON through its website. 

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Those dealing with sexual assault in Edmonton can contact the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE).

Alberta’s One Line for Sexual Violence is available to anyone in Alberta who is looking for support or referrals to specialized sexual assault service providers. Call or text 1-866-403-8000. For services in other Provinces and Territories in Canada visit the Ending Violence Association of Canada.