3 groups of citizens in BKB

3 groups of citizens in BKB

VOLUNTEERS
Among BKB’s volunteers are people of different professions, predominantly with university education in field of law and psychology. They could spend their free time on any other activities. However they have decided otherwise. They render a part of their private life to victims and witnesses of crime who have accidentally got into troubles. Someone has robbed them, beaten them up, cheated them or has injured their immediate family. Their lives have changed root and branch. At one single moment they have lost a fixed point and their feeling of safety has disappeared with it. They are looking for assistance, advice, understanding and trust. The civic association for support of crime victims in the Czech Republic – Bily kruh bezpeci - can provide all these thanks to qualified and highly motivated volunteer consultants.
By BKB’s volunteers we mean members of counselling teams in six regional consulting bureaus. There are 160 volunteers working for the association in 2006. Their average age is 35. In European context this is unprecedentedly young team. It comprises 68% of women and 32% of men. Professional spectrum is very wide – from police detectives, judges, lawyers, educationalists, psychiatrists, social workers, psychologists, authorised experts, probation officers and journalists to pensioners and university students. As an example - these volunteers devoted in total 1256 hours to victims of crime in 2005.

BRNO – number of volunteers in the team: 35
Average age: 39,3                       Women/men: 23/12
Psychologists/lawyers: 13/14      Female/Male assistants: 8

OLOMOUC – number of volunteers in the team: 18
Average age: 32                          Women/men: 15/5
Psychologists/lawyers: 7/11        Female/Male assistants: 0

OSTRAVA – number of volunteers in the team: 16
Average age: 37 let                     Women/men: 8/8
Psychologists/lawyers: 9/7          Female/Male assistants: 0

PARDUBICE – number of volunteers in the team: 19
Average age: 35,7 let                  Women/men: 11/8
Psychologists/lawyers: 5/6          Female/Male assistants: 8

PLZEŇ – number of volunteers in the team: 24
Average age: 29,5 let                  Women/men: 17/7
Psychologists/lawyers: 6/8          Female/Male assistants: 10

PRAHA – number of volunteers in the team: 48
Average age: 37,5 let                  Women/men: 37/11
Psychologists/lawyers: 14/19      Female/Male assistants: 15

In the capital of Prague Ms Eva Koubová, Doctor of Laws; Ms Jana Knitlová, M.A. and Mr Martin Kloubek, Doctor of Laws, were honoured by the mayor with annual prestigious “Firelock” Award for ten best volunteers in last years. However acknowledgements, appreciation and respect are equally due to absolutely all whom we are not able to introduce in this publication.

VICTIMS
For victims of crime it is always difficult to talk about their pains, disillusion, frustration and just anger in public.
In 2001 – 2005 more than 25 000 citizens contacted Bily kruh bezpeci (hereinafter BKB) either personally or through DONA hot line that has been operating non-stop since September 2001. The number of telephone contacts in consulting bureaus approximates to 30 000. High confidence in this service is documented by a number of victims of latent crime. That means of such criminal activities that have not been reported to law enforcement agencies by the first contact with Bily kruh bezpeci yet.

From statistical data it follows that BKB services are sought predominantly by women (64%). Victims of crime (62%) prevail among clients. The rest of clientele comprises mainly victims´ relatives (15%), witnesses of crime, friends, acquaintances or neighbours of victims. As far as the type of crime is concerned victims of assault (28%), thefts, violation of personal liberty, constraint of personal liberty (7% each type of crime mentioned), rape, blackmailing, fraud (5% each), murder, mugging, sexual abuse (3% each) prevail among BKB clients. Other criminal activities are represented by less than 2%.

53% of incidents have been reported to the Czech police by the time of the first client’s contact with BKB. Volunteer advisers have nearly always provided combined aid, predominantly legal and psychological, supplemented by moral and organisational assistance.

More than a half of victims, BKB clients, have complained of a lack of information during criminal investigation, of blunt approach of law enforcement agencies and state institutions, of unscrupulous ways of media coverage and of a lack of rights of a victim in penal procedure. The most frequent victim’s reaction to a crime is a question: ”Why just me?” This leads to feelings of grief, desolation and blaming oneself. Frequent mental reaction to serious crime is a loss of concentration that is manifested in aggravated perception and bad interpretation of information provided. Each individual is unrepeatable in experiencing trauma. Despite very different reactions to a crime that have been documented in BKB consulting bureaus we can claim that the most serious traumas are experienced by victims after attacks on their physical integrity (robbery, rape, assault, violence in relations) and by surviving relatives of victims of traffic accidents mainly of those caused by a drunken driver. Victims of crime against property experience long-term negative feeling of violation of privacy in house robbery cases.


SUPPORTERS
In the world they are called social investors no matter whether they invest their financial means, material, services, creativity or influence. In last decades they have a significant impact on growth of non-profit sector in which they are looking primarily for social innovators. That means for such organisations and individuals that bring in new ways of solving problems of various aspects of community life. They try to instil high quality standards in this collaboration. Foundations, endowment funds, big companies, middle-sized companies and also of highest level of municipal government and self-employed persons support Bily kruh bezpeci on central and regional levels as well as local municipal governments on the level of corporate towns (Brno, Olomouc, Ostrava, Pardubice, Plzeň, Praha) and state administration (Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Internal Affairs). They all have one in common. They invest in protection of human rights, especially in protection of rights of victims of crime. They do that without claiming for media publicity and public acknowledgements. Their support and assistance yield mainly feeling of solidarity for everybody (donors, service providers, clients). They enable volunteers to provide high-quality services in appropriate environment and to extend number of above standard and special services as a response mainly to serious cases. They also enable to implement new projects, to submit proposals for systemic measures and to convey best practices to other assisting professionals.

In recent history of co-operation between private company and non-profit organisation it is difficult to find such extensive, strategically managed and eventually successful project like “Aid to Victims of Domestic Violence” implemented in 2001 – 2006. Private initiative combined with professional erudition, corresponding financial investment, mutual respect and full engagement of both partners (Bily kruh bezpeci and Philip Morris CR) has brought fundamental upturn of attention to and solution of burning social issue. The real social contribution is a variation in practices and especially a legal change (adoption of the act on protection against domestic violence). The real result of the project for social investor is the fact that he has headed corporate sector as the responsible company that can document its contribution for society by evincible results. This fact has also been expressed by the Via Bona Award – the top acknowledgement a business company in the Czech Republic may receive in the field of donation and philanthropy. The project is regarded highly also on international level. Social investor management presents the project as an exemplary one to other branches of the syndicate and has received acknowledgements of lawmakers and high state officials.

Petra Vitoušová