The NYPD unveiled a new $5.8 million Special Victims Unit facility in the Bronx on Monday, designed to boost investigations into sexual assault cases and offer more support to survivors of such crimes.
The facility, located at 188 West 230th St., will now house the Bronx District Attorney’s Office, Safe Horizon, Bronx Adult Special Victims Squad, and the Special Victims Major Case squad to promote collaboration, the NYPD announced.
Safe Horizon, which offers survivors a slew of safety resources, does not have offices inside the Bronx SVU facility located in the 41st Precinct on Simpson Street.
The old building earned the moniker “Fort Apache” due to the high crime rates in the area.
The new state-of-the-art facility will have several trauma-informed spaces to prioritize the well-being of sexual assault survivors, including a lactating room, a stress reduction room, trauma-informed interview rooms, and a child-friendly area, authorities said.
“For decades, the Bronx Special Victims Unit operated out of the old apache. That building carries a long history in the New York City police, but it was never designed for the deeply sensitive work that was done by our team,” First Deputy Commissioner Tania Kinsella said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony outside the new facility Monday.
“Our Special Victims Detectives are the best in the world at what they do. But even the greatest investigators need the right tools and the right environment to deliver justice to survivors. This new facility ensures they will have exactly that,” Kinsella added.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the new SVU facility provides a “welcoming environment” for survivors of sexual assault.
“It is a place designed to give survivors privacy and to bring everyone involved in these cases together in one setting. This is what 21st-century policing looks like – and what it means to build a survivor-focused NYPD,” the commissioner said in a statement.
The NYPD’s Special Victims Unit is comprised of over 300 investigators tasked with investigating sexual violence cases.
It’s unclear when the facility will become fully operational, but Chief of Special Victims Carlos Ortiz expects it to be “soon.”
“This facility is a symbol of compassion. When victims who [have] recently been traumatized walk through these doors, they will find a calm and peaceful place that they can talk. And really be trauma-focused to understand what really happened to them,” said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark.
“We know what it was like over there at Simpson Street …. It’s not the environment that’s needed for vulnerable victims such as these,” Clark said.
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