VICTIMS’ Commissioner Baroness Helen Newlove has praised Dorset for leading the way in supporting victims of crime.

Baroness Newlove, who became an advocate for victims of crime after her husband Garry was murdered outside their family home, officially opened the new Dorset Victims’ Bureau.

And she hailed it a “step change” in the way victims of crime are dealt with, something that would have helped her when she was coming to terms with the death of her husband in 2007.

“Victims don’t know where to go, they don’t know what questions to ask,” she said.

“To know that this bureau is here and they can get the answers they need will make a real difference.

“There’s nothing more upsetting than when you feel information is not being passed to you.

“You’re already hurting because a crime’s happened and then you might read in the paper that the offender has been released on bail. It’s critical that information can be passed first-hand to the victim.”

The Bournemouth-based bureau will be run by paid staff and volunteers, who will update and support victims of crime. The move will free up police officers to spend more time investigating crime and give victims a more dedicated and consistent service.

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill said that in the week since the service’s soft launch, they had started working with 290 victims and he had already received an email from a victim praising the “fantastic service”.

“I think that victims are the forgotten majority,” he said. “We need to do more for victims.

“I know from being a victim of crime myself and from meeting victims that the biggest problem is the blackhole of information. We are removing that blackhole.”

Dorset is only the second police force to introduce a victims’ bureau.

“By next year, it will be the first multi-agency victims’ service in the country, encompassing all of the Criminal Justice Agencies.