EX-COUNCILWOMAN STARTS 24-HOUR COUNSELING CRIME VICTIMS IN : CRIME VICTIMS IN GLENDALE TO GET PERSONAL TOUCH.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

In the midst of a terrible crime stands a victim, always scared and often alone.

``Law enforcement isn't really prepared to do much. We don't have the resources,'' Glendale police Capt. Jerry Stolze says. ``You'd feel a lot better driving away from the scene knowing there was someone there with the victim.''

Come August, there will be.

Lynda Rocamora, a former Glendale school board member, has come up with a plan to help victims of violent crime during those first crucial hours after a crime has occurred.

The 47-year-old Glendale woman has created a nonprofit organization called Safe Haven, which will start providing volunteers to go to police stations and hospitals to be there for victims immediately.

``This is what has been missing,'' Rocamora said. ``We're going to put a person there as a living link as opposed to just giving them a piece of paper with a phone number.''

Safe Haven is a personal crusade for Rocamora, who decided to form the organization two years ago. At the same time she announced her plans, she told the story of how she had been molested as a child and was later raped at gunpoint as a young adult.

When Rocamora was in her late 30s, she suffered a major emotional upheaval as she tried to cope with what had happened to her years before.

``The longer you let it go, the harder it is to escape,'' Rocamora said.

Rocamora gave up her seat on the Glendale school board to devote her energies full time on Safe Haven and because of a debilitating orthopedic condition that has made doing both activities impossible.

Dr. Maria Rochart, executive director of a Glendale nonprofit called New Horizons, said Safe Haven will fill a gap in services for victims of violent crime.

New Horizons currently assists women and children who have been victims of domestic abuse. The organization has a 24-hour hotline, but that counseling is provided over the phone, not in person.

``There is a gap, because there is no 24-hour hotline where someone can go and talk to you right away,'' Rochart said. ``A lot of times you lose them on the hotline.''

Safe Haven currently has an office at the city's main fire station on Oak Street and recently secured space at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. Rocamora expects to have volunteer counselors available by August, the start-up month for full operations.

Eventually Rocamora hopes to build a headquarters for Safe Haven, where victims of violent crime can stay in the days after an incident.

Stolze said he expects victims of domestic violence will benefit greatly from Safe Haven because many times police are called out to a home, but then see the victim drop the charges the next day.

``Then three weeks later we're back out there for the same thing,'' Stolze said.

Launching Safe Haven is another step for Rocamora in recovering from her past - a process that began 10 years ago when she first called a hotline looking for help in dealing with her own demons.

It was difficult then to find help because there weren't a lot of counselors who specialized in helping people recover from sexual crimes that occurred in the distant past. She eventually found a group called Adults Molested as Children, where others who had been through similar experiences helped her recovery.

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Photo

PHOTO Lynda Rocamora, right, founded Safe Haven with backing from Sylvia Hines, executive director of YMCA, Dr. Maria Rochart, Assistant Fire Chief Chris Gray, Glendale Mayor Sheldon Baker, Annie Van Bebber of Digital Maven and Associates, Glendale Police Capt. Jerry Stolze, and Connie McCleary of Grace Center in Pasadena.

Bob Halvorsen/Daily News