100 Women recently granted the Cambodian Children’s Fund with $40,000 towards specialist training to 24 Cambodian female police officers in the Child Protection Unit on how to interview child victims of serious crimes, assisting in the expedient arrest of offenders. Learning how to obtain important facts and evidence greatly reduces the number of times children must recount crimes to local authorities.
We’d like to share with you this letter we recently received from James McCABE, Director Operations Child Protection Unit, thanking 100 Women for our support.
Dear 100 Women,
I am writing to you to express my sincerest gratitude for your support in training female Police Officers in the critical role of child interviewers. The interviewing of a child victim can be difficult, emotional and challenging and it requires a special approach, compassion and skill. Added to this is the fact that in 90% of cases the CPU has responded to the victims are female.
In May 2015 the CPU conducted the first ever Specialist Child Interviewers Course. For the first time in Cambodia, female Police Officers were given comprehensive training from the United Kingdom’s most experienced detectives specialized in interviewing child victims of sexual violence.
Last years course trained 24 Police Women from a variety of provinces around Cambodia. Since then the CPU has responded to 279 cases of attempted murder, rape, serious assault and kidnapping in which these officers were called upon to support the victims and illicit the vital information that lead to successful arrests and prosecutions of offenders, while minimizing any further trauma to the child or their family.
In 2015 there were 299 cases reported to the CPU, including 25 child murders. So far this year we have seen a 20% increase in the amount of cases in comparison to the same time in 2015. Training more female Police Officers is critical to meet the needs of these child victims.
Although planned, with the unfortunate increase in cases, and thus investigate costs, we would not have been able to run another Specialist Child Interviewers Course in 2016. Your support has guaranteed there will be a further 24 Police Women in Cambodia with the necessary skills and experience to conduct expert child interviews.
This year’s Specialist Child Interviewers Course will take place from October 10th to 15th and I’d like to take this opportunity to invite you to visit the CPU while the training is being delivered to meet the team and the Police Women on the course.
Thanks again so much for your support.
Yours Sincerely
James McCABE
Director Operations CPU
Without 100 Women funding this program would not have been able to be done again.
Want to know how you can make a difference through philanthropy? Join as a 100 Women member today to support the projects that you play a role in choosing through our grant making process!
*On Friday 9th September 100 Women will be hosting an event featuring Philanthropist Scott Neeson, Founder of Cambodian Children’s Fund. For details of the event or to purchase tickets visit https://100womenfeaturescfffounder.eventbrite.com.au
