Lighthouse Victim and Witness Care Lighthouse is a team of staff from the police and victim support organisations, working together to guide, advise and support victims and witnesses. In October 2014, the Ministry of Justice transferred responsibility for commissioning local victim services in Avon and Somerset to the local Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC). This led to the complete review of the way that victim and witness services were provided. To prepare for change this the Office of the PCC’s Commissioning Team worked with Avon and Somerset Constabulary to establish an Integrated Victim Board.The aim of the Board was to expand on the finding of existing research, regarding the ‘victims’ journey’ through the criminal justice system. The Board began consulting with partners and service providers to explore what services people wanted and identify gaps in current provision. Local victims were also surveyed to establish their needs, experiences of victim contact and suggestions for how the service should be shaped.After 18 months of research and planning, in October 2014, Lighthouse Integrated Victim and Witness Care went live, as a brand new department within Avon and Somerset Constabulary. Lighthouse offers an enhanced service to vulnerable, intimated or persistently targeted victims of crime and anti-social behaviour, and victims of serious crime. To find out more about that this means and who is classed as an enhanced victim take a look at: Victim Code of PracticeIf you are currently receiving support from Lighthouse and have misplaced the contact details of your allocated Victim and Witness Care Officer you can contact us via 101. We're sorry but <%= htmlWebpackPlugin.options.title %> doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue.
