Kern DA's office unveils new location for 'all victims of crime'

Oct. 20—The Kern County District Attorney's Office unveiled on Friday its new Victims Services Units location — a place where people can receive help for everything from domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual assault to finding a place that enforces the rights of crime victims, including elder abuse.

More than 50 attendees, mostly county staff, local leaders and service providers, adorned purple ribbons in commemoration of both the ceremony and October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Oct. 20 as Domestic Violence Awareness Day.

"So we are all gathered here together, of course, to celebrate in this beautiful building, but also to remember domestic violence victims," said Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer. "Many of them were injured or killed by that very person they once loved and trusted."

This comes about six months after the DA's office received approval to pack up and move its Family Justice Center from its former location at 21st and Oak streets and move to the downtown location. Since the county already owned and operated the building, officials said it only took some furniture and a fresh coat of paint to set up shop.

While only five years old, staff said the former Family Justice Center was too small. Services through the county's nonprofit partners were previously spread out among six different offices, making it difficult for people to make appointments.

"A lot of people don't have access to gas money, or even they don't have a car," said Kayla Pinkston, program coordinator for victim services at the center. "It takes a lot of money and time to go to all these different facilities and so we do that here on-site."

But in that same span of time, Zimmer said, they helped more than 13,000 victims. In 2022 alone, the building saw more than 2,600 visits. Ongoing clients were notified, she added, by their assigned "advocate," or case worker.

Additionally, from 2018 to this year, the Victims Witness and Elder Abuse Units served more than 16,000 victims.

During that time span, that adds up to more than 30,000 victims served by all the units combined.