A representative of a local victim’s services agency briefed the Police Liaison Committee last week on the routes people can take when they find themselves to be victims of crime.
Alison Sprague, executive director of Victim/Witness Services of South Philadelphia, was a special guest speaker at the LGBT panel’s Feb. 10 meeting at the William Way LGBT Community Center.
The city offers assistance programs out of the police department or district attorney’s office, or through one of several local nonprofit agencies, like Sprague’s, and another that covers Center City.
“Even if we can’t fix what happened for people, we will walk through the process with them, because it can be complicated,” Sprague said.
While victims are encouraged to contact the service, Sprague’s organization also receives police reports each day and follows up in writing with the victims, detailing the services the organization offers. The agency will work with the victims to help them fill out police reports, connect them with detectives, accompany them to court proceedings and link them to victims’ compensation.
Last year, her group worked with more than 3,000 victims and dispersed about $600,000 to approximately 200 victims. The reimbursement program, funded through fees offenders have to pay, does not apply to personal items — such as cell phones, purses or other belongings damaged or stolen in a crime — but can be applied for medical-related products, counseling expenses, lost earnings or funeral expenses.
The program is a payer of last resort and, for instance, would cover medical bills only if the victim does not have insurance.
In order to qualify, victims must be willing to file a police report and cooperate with authorities, as well as wade through the red tape associated with the process. Sprague noted her agency and the others in the area offer referrals to sexual- and domestic-violence agencies for victims of such crimes.
In addition to Sprague’s presentation, the committee also heard from Lt. Frank Palumbo, the new head of Police Service Area 3, which covers the Gayborhood.
Just prior to the meeting, Palumbo was involved in breaking up a “flash mob” of youth who were congregating around 15th and Chestnut streets. Palumbo said such occurrences have been originating both around City Hall and on South Street in the late-afternoon hours and have spilled over into the Gayborhood.
Palumbo said he’s in the process of formulating an action plan to address the flash-mob phenomenon in the area, and Deputy Commissioner Stephen Johnson, liaison to the LGBT community, noted that law enforcement continues to monitor social-networking sites, allowing them to thwart at least four recent planned flash mobs.
Committee member Matt Miller, owner of 13th Street Gourmet Pizza, commented that the coming warm weather often brings out large crowds of youth in the Gayborhood corridors, especially on Wednesdays for Woody’s 18-and-over night, that have occasionally resulted in fights. Palumbo said Sixth District Capt. Brian Korn is aware of such situations, and they will discuss a plan to stem that trend this spring.
The committee also reviewed last month’s Police Advisory Commission at the William Way LGBT Community Center, during which Luis Berrios spoke out about his alleged case of police brutality.
Johnson, who works in Internal Affairs, said his department had been aware of the complaint prior to the meeting, and that investigators are staying on the case.
He pledged they would investigate “vigorously without bias” to arrive at a “concise and definitive conclusion.”
The PSA3 meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of the month at the Dorrance H. Hamilton Building, 1001 Locust St., Room 224.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].