Santa Ana participates in Sexual Assault Awareness Month

Over her 11 years working in Santa Ana Police Department’s Special Crimes Unit, one story stands out for Sgt. Johanna Lizardi, though there are many.

While working patrol prior to joining the Special Crimes Unit, Lizardi and her partner were called to a domestic violence case on Christmas Eve. Lizardi stayed at the hospital with the victim, holding her hand and reassuring her. Years later, after Lizardi joined the Special Crimes Unit, she encountered the woman on another call.

The woman hugged her and thanked Lizardi for helping her in her times of need.

“We meet with a lot of victims, but this may be the only time that they're seeing us,” Lizardi said. “How we treat them and how we interact with them matters.”

Santa Ana Police Department honored this type of support during National Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. Through a series of Waymakers-sponsored activities, the agency aims to show support for victims while offering some much-needed lightheartedness to the day-to-day work of the unit.

Lizardi’s team is made up of 15 Santa Ana police personnel, two social workers, and one domestic violence advocate.

Detectives work tirelessly to support sexual assault victims, connecting them with a network of resources and providing ongoing assistance. The unit handles cases involving child abuse, adult sexual assault, child death and homicide, elder abuse, internet crimes against children, restraining order violations and sex offender registrants.

“We're one of the biggest units at the department and a really busy one, unfortunately,” she said.

Lizardi, who’s been the sergeant of the Sex Crimes Unit for three years and with the agency for 20, said the nonprofit Waymakers began the Sexual Assault Awareness Month Challenge three years ago. The idea behind the challenge is to show law enforcement’s role in sexual assault cases beyond enforcement. The agency has been participating since the beginning.

“When Waymakers created this challenge, (they wanted to) get law enforcement more involved in showing the advocacy route and letting victims know we're here beyond enforcement,” she said. “The first year we did the challenge — we didn't know this at the time — we were the only law enforcement agency involved. So we did all the challenges, at the end we won and that's when they told us, ‘Santa Ana was the only one.’”

This year, Santa Ana Police Department is competing against Garden Grove Police Department. The first challenge was called “Start Believing,” and required the agencies to create either a written document or video showing how they stand with survivors. Santa Ana Police Department’s video, posted on Instagram, is titled “You are not alone” and shows how the agency works closely with Waymakers, the Family Justice Center, and Sexual Assault Response Team nurses to make the process as easy as possible for victims.

“Our main focus is to let victims know, ‘We believe and we're here with you,’” Lizardi said.

The second challenge was “Sweat for Survivors,” which involved tracking walking or running mileage as a department.

“It's showing that we're standing beside them and walking alongside them,” she said.

The week of April 20 was Teal Takeover. For one day, everyone wore teal, signifying sexual assault awareness.

“It shows, again as a department, that we stand with our victims in the community,” she said.

The city has also been involved, and along with Waymakers, officially proclaimed April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

“They lit up our water tower in teal,” she said.

On April 29 the department participated in Denim Day, an international campaign started in 1999 after an Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction because the victim was wearing tight jeans and the justices assumed the victim helped remove the jeans. Wearing denim on the last Wednesday in April now signifies solidarity with sexual assault victims. Chief Robert Rodriguez allowed the entire department to wear denim.

“Normally, it would typically just be professional staff or detectives, but our chief approved even patrol, so (we had) a lot of patrol officers in denim,” she said.

The activities in April allow the agency to focus on victims, and take some time to bring a little levity to a unit that mostly deals in very difficult subjects, Lizardi said.

“It brings a positive aspect to what we do because it is very dark, and mental wellness is huge for us,” she said. “We investigate these crimes, but what a way to support our survivors and also just send a message: ‘We’re here. We see you. We stand beside you.’"

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