NEWS
5
Monday, July 24, 2017
CITY
SAFEline chat provides secure support for abuse survivors By Jenan Taha @thedailytexan
An online chat room is helping abuse survivors reach out and receive assistance from the SAFE Alliance, an Austin abuse survivor resource center. SAFEline chat, a real-time messaging option similar to texting, has helped nearly 400 survivors discreetly contact SAFE about their experiences and has encouraged a number of young people to reach out about their situations. “We’re finding that youth seem to be more comfortable connecting with us that way,” SAFEline director Erin Clark said. “When it can be hard to verbalize, especially after a recent trauma, if they can just type out a message to us, I think that is the most valuable thing.”
Clark said younger people traditionally are not comfortable with using their telephone hotline. Some survivors tried reaching out through email, which was far less safe than the chat room, where messages between survivors and responders are not accessible to anyone else. Survivors can access the chat room from SAFE’s website, where live representatives will respond to messages within 30 seconds. Accessing the shelter through chat can be the first step in dealing with a traumatic experience, Clark said. Leah Leeds, Voices Against Violence clinical coordinator, said students may not reach out immediately after a traumatic event for various reasons. Leeds said the chat option
of reaching out lessens the anxiety someone may feel from making a phone call or speaking out in person. “A lot of people are more comfortable using a chat feature as opposed to making a phone call,” Leeds said. “It’s not always safe for a survivor to use their phone to call. You might be sitting in public and wouldn’t feel comfortable having that phone conversation.” UT sociology professor Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez has worked with women who have experienced sexual violence as a licensed therapist and said the chat can help survivors talk about their situations. “We don’t have the social training to talk about it,” Gonzalez-Lopez said. “It’s very difficult for people — there’s a lot of shame, doubt, confusion
(and) self-blame. (The chat) is an avenue that people are exploring, and as long as it is safe, professional and respectful, it may work for people.” Gonzalez-Lopez said sexual violence occurs in all contexts and settings, whether it is in the workplace or at school. According to a 2017 study by UT’s Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, 8 percent of UT students in a relationship reported being psychologically abused by their partner, while 10 percent reported being physically abused. The study also found that 15 percent of female students have experienced rape since beginning college. However, 68 percent of students who had experienced sexual harassment or interpersonal violence did not
POLICE
APD warns of scammers posing as authorities By Jenan Taha @thedailytexan
The Austin Police Department warned the public Thursday about an Internal Revenue Service phone scam in which the scammer used a caller ID that was identical to an APD number. Several people received the call and were threatened with arrest, deportation and other consequences if they did not pay off a debt immediately. When those who received the call called back, they found APD on the other line. “The IRS does not call you and make these kinds of arrangements to make immediate payment,” APD Commander Pat Connor said. “APD does not call anyone soliciting money. If somebody were to ever receive a
phone call from APD saying anything along the lines of ‘you have a ticket, you need to pay it now over the phone,’ we don’t do that.” Connor said this kind of phone scam is widespread across the country, and some scammers are able to mimic numbers that look local, even if the scammers themselves aren’t in the United States. “There’s always some type of phone scam going on,” Connor said. “The scary thing is there are (scammers) from all over the world. When you see the caller ID saying it’s an Austin number, they may be in Canada or somewhere else.” Of the Austinites who were called by the scammer Thursday morning, none fell victim to the plot, Connor said. Cindy Posey, director of
internal and campus safety communications, said in a statement UT Police Department is aware of these kinds of scams and warns students not to give away information over the phone. “Do not fall for this scam, or any scam, where someone is requesting money via a phone call, even if the phone number appears to be legitimate,” Posey said. “Always hang up, ignore their threats, and if you feel unsafe, dial 911 and tell law enforcement about the incident.” UT alumna Sherry Tucci said she gets similar scam calls at least three times a week. “Sometimes it’s really bad and they’ll call me three times a day,” Tucci said. “They try to ease you into giving them information about you. Nowadays I just ignore the call.”
Tucci said she can usually recognize the signs that a phone call is a scam. “I can tell when someone is trying to sell me something,” Tucci said. “If they’re kind of dodgy or they’re not specific about things, you can tell that they’re trying to make you feel like you’re getting what you want, but in reality they’re just getting your information.” Connor said it’s important to remember that a government office will never call a citizen directly to demand something from them. “The most important takeaway from this is that the IRS or the police department are not going to call you or call anyone to demand money over the phone and threaten to arrest you,” Connor said. “We’re not going to ask for payment over the phone.”
Illustration by Jacky Tovar | Daily Texan Staff
tell someone about it before the survey. “When we’ve experienced a recent trauma, sometimes we want to talk to our friends or take some time to process that,” Leeds said. “Most people are going to reach out to what
feels safest to them. Sometimes that means not reaching out.” SAFEline chat is currently open for 12 hours on weekdays and 10 on weekends, but Clark said SAFE will expand to a 24/7 chat room service this year.
@thedailytexan Follow us for news, updates and more.
Name: 5923/Kunik Orthodontics; Width: 19p4; Depth: 4 in; Color: Process color; Ad Number: 5923