Room in His Heart for Crime Victims

The facts may be still cold and hard at the LAPD’s Hollywood Division, but from now on, victims of violent crimes can face them in a warm environment.

Long concerned that the often traumatized victims of sexual assaults and other crimes felt like criminals themselves during police interviews, Detective David Lambkin transformed the stark steel and fluorescent atmosphere of an interrogation room into a cozy “living room” where victims can relate their troubled tales in a non-threatening setting.

In doing so, the officer hopes victims will feel more at ease in talking about their experiences, thereby making investigations easier. “It really makes (the victims) feel like they’re being treated special,” Lambkin said, adding that he always felt uncomfortable interviewing distressed people in the criminal interrogation rooms furnished with two chairs, a steel table and bare metal walls.

Uncomfortable Surroundings

“I’m the guy who has to bring these people in. I’m the one who’s in there when they’re crying and emotionally unstable and I was personally embarrassed to take them in the rooms we had,” said Lambkin, a 10-year veteran who works primarily on sexual assault cases.

Lambkin said he got the idea for the room, the only one of its kind in the city, about a year ago, but didn’t know how to pay for the approximately $1,000 renovation.

He eventually put almost $350 of his own money into the project while another officer’s in-laws donated the carpeting. Fellow officers and the Hollywood Police Support Organization, a coalition of local businesses, also chipped in.

It was important to the officer to make the room as soothing and comfortable as possible, down to the last detail, so he consulted LAPD psychologist Martin Reiser, Behavioral Sciences Services director, who told him to deck the walls with beige and pale blue.

The setting of an interview or counseling session is really “an extension of the personalities who operate it,” Reiser said, adding that cool or earth-tone colors traditionally have calming effects that don’t alter the “mind-set” of a traumatized person. Reiser said designing such a room “communicates concern and sensitivity for the victim” so that the person “feels more relaxed and safe and secure.”

The metallic walls were covered with beige designer wallboard. Powder blue trim around the doors and floorboard accents the plush blue-gray carpeting. Lambkin did most of the work himself after his 10-hour workdays and on weekends.

Three soft, white “tulip” chairs were chosen instead of a sofa, which Reiser said provides rape victims “with separateness and the feeling that they are protected.” He added that sexual assault victims are often very “sensitized to closeness, especially around males.”

A tan end-table sits between the overstuffed chairs and blue silk flowers accent the framed posters on the walls.

“I was really impressed,” said Nancy Kless after seeing the room earlier this week. Kless is director of the Los Angeles Crime Victims Center, a nonprofit counseling organization that has worked often with Lambkin. “The last time I visited, the interview room was horrible. This was a nice surprise. The difference was like night and day.”

Mood Swings

Kless said rape victims often suffer from rape trauma syndrome, which leads them to feel alienated and suffer flashbacks and mood swings that can be intensified by the interview process.

“(The interview) can bring up a lot more feelings that, if not handled properly, can cause a lot more problems,” she said, adding that the Hollywood setup makes the process “much more palatable and it obviously decreases the secondary trauma.”

In the last week, the room has been used five times and Lambkin said everyone has praised the look and atmosphere of the room.

“One woman said, ‘I was really hysterical when you brought me in here. This place is so calming,’ ” he said.

Times staff writer Boris Yaro contributed to this story.