Sault event focused on helping victims of crime

The Ontario Provincial Police in Sault Ste. Marie hosted its first ever Victim Services Conference on Wednesday.

The event featured presentations on intimate partner violence, as well as discussions with survivors of human trafficking and sexual assault.

OPP Const. Ashley Nickle from the Superior East Detachment in Wawa helped organize the event.

Nickle said a goal of the conference is to change the way police investigate these occurrences, and the way officers view victims and survivors.

"We are all members who will deal with victims, or survivors at a certain point,” Nickle said.

“Educating us, and bringing awareness to real-life experiences of victims, will make us more empathetic, understanding. It will show us important ways that we can change our approaches when dealing with victims of these sexual violence cases."

Police were joined at the conference by organizations like Victim Services, Child and Family Services, as well other law enforcement including city and Indigenous police forces.

Nickle said the education has never been more necessary.

"We are seeing more and more cases of human trafficking in our area,” she said.

“Intimate partner violence and sexual assaults are all, unfortunately, on the rise, not only provincially, but in the northeast region and the Sault and surrounding areas."

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