By DEVIN HEILMAN

Staff Writer

COEUR d’ALENE — Incidents of people fleeing and needing support in violent situations are on the rise in North Idaho.

Safe Passage Violence Prevention Center, a nonprofit dedicated to helping victims and putting an end to domestic violence, recently released its 2016 statistics. The stats show an overall increase from 2015 in the number of people it helped during incidents of sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and other violent circumstances.

Safe Passage labeled the 2016 results a "double-edged sword."

"We always think it's good for victims to connect with the services. Our services increase safety, so that's a good thing," Safe Passage executive director Katie Coker said Monday. "Of course, it's also disheartening to see all of this going on. Most of these are local stats. When you see numbers like these, we know we have a lot of work to do."

In 2016, Safe Passage supported 987 survivors of domestic and sexual violence compared to 735 in 2015. That's about a 34 percent increase.

Child sexual abuse, including non-offending caregivers, increased from 155 to 242. Domestic violence increased from 307 to 355. Sexual assault increased from 67 to 116.

"We don't have any indication that that increase is going to let up," Coker said. "If anything, it's going to go up."

Coker said one reason for 2016's increase in services and support is Safe Passage is getting more exposure in the community. Through its Connect Lunches on the first Tuesday and third Thursday of each month, Safe Passage is meeting more people who help spread the word about its services.

Safe Passage has also been successful with grants and contracts and now has its own forensic interviewer, Coker said.

"I think what we're seeing is we have more people accessing the programs that we're always had. We've seen a steady increase in those," she said. "We've also added some new places for reaching survivors."

In 2016, 181 forensic interviews were conducted at Safe Passage's Children's Advocacy Center. That's double the number of interviews from 2016, but Coker said that high number can be attributed to more cases utilizing the center.

"I don't think that it's that much more sex violence," Coker said. "Children who would have been interviewed at the police station are coming to the CAC."

Coker said the increase in teen dating violence from zero to 11 cases and bullying from zero to 32 is partly the result of new teen-centered programs implemented last year.

Safe Passage is in need of people to serve on its board, help with corporate sponsors and donations for its thrift shop. Coker said the increase in volume of those needing support is a cause for concern.

"Are we going to be able to respond with high quality services?" she said. "We need as much community support as we can get."

Anyone dealing with domestic or sexual violence can call the free 24-hour Safe Passage hotline at 664-9303.

Info: www.safepassageid.org