LAKEPORT — Big plans for a small building behind the Lake County District Attorney Victim-Witness building in downtown Lakeport will aid the criminal justice system in prosecuting pedophiles while making the process easier on children.
A new multi-disciplinary interview center (MDIC) is planned for the spot behind Victim-Witness that is now occupied by a small, un-insulated building slated for demolition Oct. 14. The MDIC process means that victims do not have to relive the trauma of the original abuse several times over multiple interviews, according to Lake County Victim-Witness director Sam Laird. He said the new center will allow prosecutors to watch and listen from another room and feed questions to an interviewer via a small ear piece as a child”s statement is recorded to a DVD.
“I couldn”t imagine being a victim of molest and going into a room with strangers and explaining in graphic detail where my uncle, neighbor or family friend touched me, and how it made me feel, and what he said when he was doing it. The interview is difficult for anyone to go through, let alone a five- or six-year-old child,” Laird said. “So we want to make them comfortable. This way we can get it all out once. Once is more than enough.”
Laird said that currently, children may have to tell their stories multiple times in order to bring an offender to justice. If a deputy district attorney decides more information is needed after an initial interview, an investigator may re-interview a child to get what the prosecutor needs. After all that, the child may be called to testify in court. “Rarely in law enforcement cases do you have a prosecutor out in the field with an investigator … this way there”s a prosecutor there reviewing the case as the interview takes place and thinking ahead,” Laird said.
The child-friendly environment in the MDIC not only streamlines the prosecution process for law enforcement and victims, but also ups the chances of a guilty plea, according to Laird. “The plea rate is extremely high in these cases because once the defense learns that we”ve got an interview on tape, the idea of showing that to a jury is not always appealing,” Laird said.
John DeChaine, the prosecutor in the DA”s vertical prosecution unit for child abuse and the deputy DA assigned to said the existing MDIC center in the Lake County Courthouse in downtown Lakeport doesn”t allow children to have a necessary sense of detachment from the legal process, and is in need of an upgrade.
The new MDIC will be designed to look like a cottage, and will occupy approximately 576 square feet where the small building now stands. Laird said plans include landscaping an outside area where a picnic table sits now, which he said is also part of making the process easier on children. “Sometimes kids freeze up in the middle of an interview, and it”s good to stop and let them get some fresh air,” he said.
Laird said he is working closely with John DeChaine, the prosecutor in the D.A.”s vertical prosecution unit for child abuse, and Lt. Mike Curran, sex crimes investigator with the Sheriff”s office to bring the project together. Along with high-tech recording and communication equipment and rotating flat-screen monitors, the building will feature sound proofing for security and skylights for comfort. “We”re going to shoot for the moon and make it one of best MDIC centers in California,” Laird said.
The Kelseyville Rotary Club is using the $3,100 in proceeds from a beer stand at the recent Mexican rodeo to build the center, according to county supervisor and club member Rob Brown. Brown estimated that the total cost of the project between $10,000 and $12,000. Laird said starting from the ground-up is easier and more cost-effective than trying to revamp the existing building.
“Once the demo is done and we begin to do construction, weather permitting, we should have it up by spring,” Brown said.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com.
