Crime, tragedy
and traumatic events often happen with no warning. Anyone can become a victim
of tragedy, crime or trauma – it can happen to you or someone you love. Family
members and those close to victims are also impacted. No part of society is
unaffected. No one can ever be prepared for the impact any of these events may
have on them.
Coping with the
aftermath of a tragedy, trauma or crime is a very difficult and stressful
experience and timely support is essential to how well victims cope and
recover. Police-based victim services offices across British Columbia provide
the emotional support immediately after a crime and through the criminal
justice process so victims can regain a sense of well-being.
We can’t stop
tragedy from happening but we strive to ensure all victims of crime and
traumatic incidents across British Columbia receive professional,
compassionate, and consistent support. Police Victim Services of British
Columbia (PVSBC) is dedicated to serving the needs of police-based victim
services programs across the province. Our police-based victim services
professionals are the front-line workers for victims of crime and we support
and advocate for them and the services they provide.
To respond
effectively police-based victim services professionals must have access to the
highest-quality, most relevant research to inform their work. We are dedicated
to producing and disseminating victim research as usable, plain language
information in the form of tip-sheets, briefs, reference notes, webinars, and
podcasts.