They may not drive around in uniform and flashing lights but two organizations strive to help victims in violent situations that are becoming ever more frequent.

Xiomara Levsen and Deanna Hansen both work in Washington County as service coordinators with the Domestic Violence Intervention Program and Rape Victim Advocacy Program, respectively. Both programs provide free support and advocacy services to victims of domestic or sexual violence which are often intertwined. Levsen works with many recurring clients as it typically takes a victim of domestic violence seven times to leave their partner, but she has noticed an increase in clients since the pandemic, “When I first started there was like 36 clients, and then in the last fiscal year there was 48 for Washington County. And that’s just people that actually come and talk to us. I mean every week and almost every day you see a domestic in the call log. So it’s definitely there but a lot of people can’t reach out to DVIP or RVAP because of the pandemic, it made it so much harder.”

Hansen says RVAP has also seen an increase in clients since the pandemic, including cases of incest, but she notes a positive impact from the last two years, “Since the pandemic we’ve really built a great sexual assault response team and we’ve become more known in the community too, which there’s been studies that show the more you are known that there are people out there that support you, the more cases you’re going to get anyways. So that has just also, I think, increased the number of clients we’ve gotten.”

Both DVIP and RVAP’s services are voluntary, meaning that victims have to reach out to them to seek their assistance, but Levsen and Hansen are grateful for the relationships with local partners including the Washington Police Department, Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Washington County Attorney John Gish, and even Gish’s office dog Theo who meet their level of compassion to help make a safer community. You can hear more about DVIP and RVAP during today’s edition of the KCII Public Safety Special Edition News Magazine at 1 and 6 p.m. Friday and through the On Demand page by clicking the Listen Live button at kciiradio.com.