JANUARY 8, 2021, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
KeizerCommunity
KEIZERTIMES.COM
New interview room creates a softer
setting for victims of Keizer crime
BY MATT RAWLINGS
Of the Keizertimes
For the last three years, Proj-
ect Beloved, a nonprofi t orga-
nization in Texas, has partnered
with multiple law enforcement
agencies to install soft inter-
view rooms in police stations
at no cost to the department.
The idea behind having a
soft interview
room is to make
it easier and
less
traumatic
for victims and
witnesses to re-
port on sensitive
crimes.
Project Be-
loved has in-
stalled numerous
soft interview
rooms for po-
lice departments
in the southern
part of the country, but last
month the nonprofi t renovated
their fi rst soft interview room
on the west coast at the Keizer
Police Department (KPD).
“Some of the core traits that
Keizer Police looks for in of-
fi cers are things like empathy
and compassion. Using a more
trauma-informed
approach
with people is putting those
values into action,” said KPD
detective Ben Howden said.
Howden was the one who
originally proposed that KPD
create a soft interview room
after attending a Forensic Ex-
periential Trauma Interview
(FETI) training in Portland last
February.
“The training is based on
neuroscience and research
around trauma and memo-
ry recall. The
way we talk to
people to try to
elicit memories,
often memories
from
trauma,
and the environ-
ment they are in
is very import-
ant in helping
facilitate some-
one’s memory
recall. It’s not
just in how you
phrase questions,
it involves being in a comfort-
able, soft, feeling space,” How-
den said.
During the week-long
training, one of the attend-
ees spoke about the import-
ant work of Project Beloved,
which motivated Howden to
check out their website and get
in contact with Tracy Mathe-
son — who created Project
Beloved after her daughter was
sexually assaulted and mur-
KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings
Det. Ben Howden inside the Keizer Police Department’s “soft” interview room, a space designed to help victims of crime recount
their experiences in a less intimidating atmosphere. The room is a gift from the non-profi t Project Beloved.
dered in 2017.
Howden wrote the proposal
to add a soft interview room in
March. Once KPD Chief John
Teague got on board with the
plan, Howden was able to con-
vince Matheson to send out
two of her employees to dec-
orate the room.
The two Project Beloved
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staff members painted the in-
terview room in soft yellow
and decorated the walls with
nature photography to honor
Matheson’s deceased daughter,
Molly — who had taken the
photos. The room also features
three comfortable chairs, fl o-
rescent lights and a lamp —
the project was completed on
Dec. 11.
“It’s very comfortable. It’s
much less of a utilitarian feel-
ing,” Howden said.
Howden has been a detec-
tive with KPD for the last 14
years, but has only recently de-
veloped a passion for Trauma
Informed Care (TIC) and the
positive impacts it has to help
victims tell their story, which
in-turn, makes it easier for
detectives to solve cases and
catch criminals.
“This is not only scientifi -
cally backed, it makes a state-
ment to victims of really dif-
fi cult events that we are there
for them and we’re going to
create a soft, welcoming envi-
ronment for them when they
have to talk about some of the
most diffi cult experiences of
their life,” Howden said. “Tra-
ditional interviewing methods
can lead to secondary victim-
ization for an individual who
is recalling the experience.
If they feel like they are be-
ing badgered or berated with
questions regarding something
that was very diffi cult, then
that can be extremely chal-
lenging for that person emo-
tionally and psychologically.”
Howden has used the room
only once since its creation
and felt that the interaction
was particularly successful.
He believes that the room
will get more usage when the
COVID-19 pandemic slows
down.
“With COVID going on,
we’re trying not to talk to
people in constrained spaces
like this. It will be interesting
to see the difference it makes
as COVID hopefully begins to
settle down,” Howden said.
“It puts everyone in the
space in a different frame of
mind. It’s a more of a nurtur-
ing environment rather than
seeking very specifi c answers.
Dealing with people in a more
sensitive and understanding
way helps people to see we
want to come alongside them.”
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