Dawson Place by Mark Roe

Posted by Gary O'Rielly 
on Sep 15, 2015
 
Our guest speaker this past week was Mark Roe, Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney and his favourite topic was Dawson Place which he helped create. Mark Roe is passionate about taking care of victims of crime. Something he learned early from his older sister. He was in junior high & high school when his sister was a prosecutor in King County. When she talked about her job as prosecutor, she was so proud of the work that she did that the impact on young Mark was immediate. Mark is probably the only law student in his class that went to law school to become a prosecutor. He started in district court, followed by handling misdemeanors and on up to Felony Crime Division.
 
Mark talked a lot about bullying and the vulnerability of being bullied. It is shocking what he can do to you. Ironically, most of it comes from family members or boyfriends of the victim's mothers. Reporting these crimes comes from many avenues. Many times, no one rallies around the bullied. Smaller children are unable of talking about their bullying experience out of fear. Seth Dawson, his former boss, was responsible for starting the first Child Advocacy Center in the state. Dawson did this after attending a conference on the program and process. Kids need consulting by child interview experts. The program wasn't started until 2006. They used the "Field of Dreams" comment, "IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME". It took a big leap in faith to begin the program. Dawson Place emerged with all of the necessary disciplines involved, again the first program in the state.
 
 
Kids think that they did something wrong. It's their fault....Janice Ellis was the Snohomish County Prosecutor when the state and county found a building and it continues as a work in progress but with a very successful return on investment. The medical room is kid friendly and each child gets a first rate medical exam. From an early experience with their first child who threw a sticky hand upon the ceiling, the ceiling is now covered with sticky hands. Dawson Place is a non-profit entity. As Mark says, IT IS OUR CENTER. Mark helped start Dawson Place in 2006.
 
Mark Roe was born in Seattle. He was a National Merit Scholar at Nathan Hale High School. He went on to become a member of the Varsity Crew Team at the University of Washington while pursuing a law degree. From Law School, Mark came straight to the Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney's Office upon graduation. He personally handles each police officer involved shooting incident in Snohomish County since the 1990's when the Snohomish Multi-Agency Response Team or SMART Team was created.
 
Thank you Mark for telling us about Dawson Place.