Domestic violence response
team calling for volunteers
Patricia Van de Zilver
LAKEWOOD — If you are sensitive and have a good ear, Officer Patricia Van de Zilver of the Lakewood Police Department’s Domestic Violence Response Team wants you.
Van de Zilver, 45, the project coordinator of the state mandated program, will be holding a kickoff meeting at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 19 at police headquarters.
Jennifer Duffield, legal program coordinator of Providence House of Catholic Charities, which will train volunteers accepted into the program, will join her in welcoming all those interested in learning more about it.
"Once they’ve heard the explanation and if they are still interested in joining, they will be asked to fill out a questionnaire and submit to a background check," said Van de Zilver.
Van de Zilver said an initial announcement released to the media as well as a mailing she made to churches, synagogues, and public and private schools had already generated calls from 25 people interested in the program.
She said that of those calls she has received from people interested in volunteering, two were from males, one person spoke fluent German and two people spoke fluent Spanish.
The ability of volunteers to speak another language is one that the police department is actively seeking. All volunteers must be at least 18 years of age and have a valid driver’s license with access to transportation.
Volunteers do not have to be residents of Lakewood.
Van de Zilver is seeking as many volunteers as she can find.
"We have no limits on the number of volunteers we would like to get," she said. "Volunteers who graduate from the 40-hour course being provided by Providence House will work for 12-hour shifts. (However,) if we have a lot of volunteers, they may not have to work for such long hours."
The training course will consist of three-hour classes of instruction over a 10-week period. Ten of the 40 hours of training will include attendance at state Superior Court, Toms River, where Duffield said volunteers will witness a final restraining order hearing, and at Lakewood municipal court, where they will see how the court handles assault charges.
When a possible victim of domestic violence is brought into police headquarters, the volunteer on duty will listen and then explain to him or her what services are available, as well as the legal options that are open to the victim. But the legal rights of volunteers are equally important, said Van de Zilver, and their identities will be kept confidential.
"We’re not going to take that volunteer and put them in a hostile environment," she said.
— Joyce Blay