COEUR d’ALENE — In times of crime, victims often fall through the cracks.

That’s why Coeur d’Alene City Councilman Dan Gookin was among council members to vote in favor of a police proposal to hire victim advocates.

“The cops and prosecutors are about getting the bad guys,” Gookin said. “They don’t focus so much on the victims.”

Although officers may stay in contact with victims of crime and attempt to get them enrolled in community programs, having a professional skilled in helping victims get their lives back on track is a component of law enforcement that many departments are without, Gookin said.

“We need it,” he said.

Chief Lee White agrees.

City Council members unanimously approved a proposal by White to establish at least one victim advocate position in the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

Other departments, including Post Falls, already have advocate positions in place.

The Post Falls program in which victim advocates travel with patrol officers responding to domestic violence cases was one of the first in the state in which police and advocates worked closely together.

Chief Scot Haug said the marriage of the two positions — patrol and advocates — allows victims to get immediate attention. While police officers push the criminal cases forward, advocates ensure the victims’ needs are met.

“The advocates stay behind with the victims throughout,” Haug said. “They help them process paperwork. They go to court with them,” and make sure the victims follow through with the process.

“I can’t reiterate enough how successful it’s been,” he said.

Since starting the program in their department more than 20 years ago, he said, many other state agencies are using Post Falls as a model on how to establish and run a successful police department victim advocate program.

Last year the Coeur d’Alene Police Department received more than 900 domestic violence calls. Not all the calls required the service, but in the many that did, victims were often referred to resources within the community, White said.

Many times, however, there’s a time lapse between the incidents and the services. That means victims are often without the attention they need.

“Under our current system, a victim must be referred to a community-based victim advocacy program by the responding officers (or) the prosecutor’s office,” White said. “Getting started on the process can be difficult for someone who has just been through a traumatic event.”

Filling out paperwork, making an appointment and following through can become hurdles in the process.

If the suspect is not arrested, the victim often does not follow through by getting help, or filing a protection order, he said.

His department has communicated with Post Falls police on how to best implement a program where there hasn’t been one in the past.

“This new program seeks to change that by providing adequate, timely, and appropriate victim services to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault cases,” White said.

The council has approved a police request to apply for grants that would pay for two victim advocate positions.

“Hopefully that will address some of those concerns where people want some more voice,” Gookin said.