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Lake County supervisors adopt proclamation for National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, urge sustained funding for services
Summary
The Lake County Board of Supervisors adopted a proclamation designating April 6–12, 2025 as National Crime Victims’ Rights Week and heard appeals from victim-service providers and elected officials for steady funding and community support.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors adopted a proclamation designating April 6–12, 2025, as National Crime Victims’ Rights Week and recognized local victim-service providers for their work, while several supervisors and a county victim-services representative urged continued funding and community support.
The proclamation — read by Vice Chair Rasmussen and signed by Chair EJ Crandall — notes that "Americans are victims of more than 20,000,000 crimes each year" and calls attention to the need for effective, accessible services for victims of crime. The Board formally adopted the proclamation in April 2025.
Why it matters: the proclamation spotlights local victim services delivered by the Victim Witness Division of the Lake County District Attorney’s Office and others, and supervisors used the moment to warn that recent funding changes could threaten the continuity of those services.
During remarks after the reading, a Victim Witness Division representative thanked the board and invited victims to seek assistance, saying, "If you are a victim, please feel free to reach out to us." The representative emphasized the county network of service providers that support victims' needs.
Supervisor Paiske highlighted funding concerns, saying, "it’s been already transferred over from the feds to the state, without knowing what the long term remedy is," and urged continued advocacy to keep services available. Another supervisor (unnamed in the transcript) described a neighborhood in their district where residents were afraid to report crimes because they feared retaliation, saying residents "were afraid to come out and tell us because of retaliation." That supervisor said the fear of retaliation and limits on enforcement make community support and outreach particularly important.
No formal policy or budget action was taken at the meeting beyond adoption of the proclamation. Board members and the victim-services representative urged residents and community organizations to contact local providers for help and to support efforts to secure stable funding.
The proclamation and remarks underline local officials’ concerns about service continuity after funding responsibilities shift among government levels and call for continued collaboration among law enforcement, the District Attorney’s Office, victim-service providers and the public.
