Family Advocacy Center marks two years offering services to Tempe crime victims

Tempe’s Family Advocacy Center opened in 2023 at a confidential location where Tempe Police and CARE 7 victim advocates, with support from Arizona State University, provide resources to crime victims.

Today, victims of crime like Shelley Cooper have even more resources available to them through the city’s Family Advocacy Center, a city release explained. Cooper never thought she would be a victim of domestic violence, but then her year-long relationship turned violent, culminating in a kidnapping. 

She escaped after three traumatic days and called Tempe Police for help. That decision to seek help led to intensive support from both a Tempe Police detective and CARE 7 victim advocate, the release stated.

Cooper recalled in the release that the advocate who helped her “told (her) they were there for (her) and whatever (she) needed.”

“For that, I’ll forever be grateful,” Cooper said. 

All crime victims in Tempe can receive comprehensive services and advocacy at no cost to address immediate and long-term needs at the center. Students, residents and visitors of all ages can meet with victim advocates and, if desired, Tempe Police to get help in a safe and healing environment.

Advocates offer safety planning and emotional support, shelter and housing referrals, help with navigating the criminal and civil justice systems, personal advocacy and accompaniment to court, healing services such as yoga and expressive art and more. 

Family Advocacy Centers are considered the gold standard for serving crime victims and their families, but Tempe’s center is unique in several ways, according to the release.

The Family Advocacy Center creates a comfortable environment for those it helps.

Courtesy City of Tempe

The center creates a home-like environment, offering a comfortable living room and teen room, a quiet room for reflection and self-care, children’s play areas, yoga and art space and a kitchen stocked with drinks and snacks. 

There is also a clothing closet and laundry machine for those who need extra resources. The city’s comfort canine Sully offers his calming presence to anyone who wants it, the release noted.

And as part of Tempe’s Community Health and Human Services Department, victims can be connected directly to a wide range of city resources, such as low-cost counseling services and emergency shelter. 

This holistic approach supports victims and their families as they heal and look to brighter futures, the release stated.

Tempe’s Family Advocacy Center serves anyone who has been victimized, regardless of the type of crime, while other centers primarily focus on more violent crimes such as sexual assault, domestic violence and child crimes.  

The city’s Family Advocacy Center is intentionally designed with advocacy services on one side of the building and police services on the other. 

Officers with the Tempe Police Family Crimes Unit and Special Victims Unit are located at the center. In partnership with ASU, there is also dedicated space to provide students with victim advocacy and police services. Victims can receive services with or without police involvement.  

Anyone who is a victim of crime can call the 24/7 CARE & HOPE Line at 480-350-8004 to get connected to a victim advocate. Victims may also contact 911 to begin the process of working with police. Ultimately, a detective and victim advocate are assigned to collaboratively assist the victim.

Before opening the Family Advocacy Center, victims and sometimes their children would meet advocates in the busy, public lobby of the Tempe Police Department and Tempe Municipal Court building. Victims would be taken to an interview room and along the way may have interacted with unrelated suspects in the same space.

At the Family Advocacy Center, victims arrive at a confidential, welcoming location for victims only. Plain-clothes detectives conduct interviews in “soft rooms” with touches like carpeting, cozy chairs and blankets. Interviews can be lengthy, and victims are invited to take breaks in the nearby kitchen or other comfortable spaces.

“It puts them at ease…you want to make it look like a normal living space,” Sgt. Jorge Lomeli, who supervises the Family Crimes Unit, said in the release.

Because advocates and police are co-located, they can more quickly and easily communicate and collaborate to meet the needs of victims and their families, Anastasia Stinchfield, victim services coordinator, said in the release.

“All victims and families have a team here at the Family Advocacy Center focused on listening, building trust and tailoring services to meet a person’s needs now and into the future,” Stinchfield said.