Jena Kleindl Special to The Journal-Standard
Published 5:06 a.m. CT March 9, 2023
Less than one month after its unveiling, the Freeport Police Department’s soft interview room is already getting used.
"It’s become a great room to have here,” Erica Chapple, a social services professional with the Freeport Police Department, said.
In February, the Freeport Police Department opened its new soft interview room complete with velvet chairs, a bright rug and fresh coats of paint all designed to improve the interactions between survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault and the police.
A soft interview room doesn’t look like a typical interrogation room and is designed to allow survivors of sexual assault to feel comfortable and safe enough to share their stories.
“Statistically, survivors are able to tell their story better when they feel comfortable and safe,” Chapple said. “This environment is geared towards them. So they’re more open to sharing their story because they realize this is a space solely for them.”
Before the soft interview room, Chapple said that offenders and survivors would be interviewed in a room which often made the survivor feel like they were the ones who did something wrong.
“It’s dark. It’s dingy. It's not very safe or comfortable feeling,” Chapple said.
Freeport is the 62nd soft interview room completely funded by Project Beloved, a nonprofit out of Fort Worth, Texas.
Project Beloved partners with law enforcement agencies to create soft interview spaces. The project’s founders are two mothers who both lost their daughters to domestic violence and sexual assault. Their negative experiences in an interrogation room during the investigation made them want to act.
“These mothers have merged together and agreed to get justice for their kids, but also keep their legacy alive,” Chapple said. “This is what they felt needed to happen in police departments in their area and across the country.”
Project Beloved fully funds each room up to $5,000 and provides furniture, artwork and even essential oils for the rooms they re-design.
The journey to bring a soft interview room to the Freeport Police Department started less than a year ago when Chapple heard about Project Beloved from police social workers in the Chicago area.
However, the original push came directly from Freeport officers and detectives.
“When I entered the office and I asked what officers and detectives wanted from me, they really wanted a space where they could interview survivors and make them feel comfortable and not like they were being put on the stand themselves,” Chapple said.
Officers and detectives have been overjoyed at the new space, according to Chapple. Other agencies, like Voices and Tyler’s Justice Center, have also been excited as they can use the space too as their services continue to grow alongside the need of the community.
Others in the community expressed on social media that the soft interview room wasn’t enough. They felt that the officers needed more training and resources when actually dealing with survivors rather than just a good-looking room, but Chapple says that’s on the way.
“With my position and this room, things are moving up for the police department in terms of helping the community,” Chapple said. “This is something that we didn’t have and now we do.”
Jena Kleindl is a freelance correspondent.
