Phoenix native Jamelah Carswell started as the Sedona Police Department’s first victim advocate on Nov. 7.

Carswell’s job is to guide victims of domestic violence, assault and fraud through the criminal justice process. She provides support and referrals to resources, acts as a liaison between victims and the agencies involved in their cases, offers to accompany victims to court and provides case updates. She is also being trained to be a background investigator to vet SPD personnel, which will occupy about a quarter of her hours.

“I think, being able to take the weight off of them, I’m here for the victims,” Carswell said. “I’m also here for the officers in the case that now if, let’s say, a victim needs to tell the officer something, I can relate that to them, I can kind of be that liaison between the victim and the officers and help connect them both, so we can work towards the goal of getting the person prosecuted.”

She attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, earning a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a concentration in criminal justice and a minor in human services. After graduating last May, Carswell worked as a domestic violence advocate at a Maricopa shelter for four months before starting with the city of Sedona. Carswell is a native of Phoenix and graduated from Desert Vista High School in 2020.

“My dad really pushed me to leave because he kind of wanted me to go somewhere else, which is funny, because I feel like most parents want you to stay home, but he saw it as a great opportunity, and I also had the chance to run track out there,” Carswell said. “I ran track my whole life, now retired. I won my indoor championship in the pentathlon last year, in February.”

Her father, Phillip Carswell, is an engineer and her mother Tracey is an early elementary school teacher, and her sister graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

“What I’ve learned from her teaching is to be very patient, because my mom’s very gentle, and I think seeing her helping people made me realize that I also wanted to do that as well, but just in a different capacity,” Carswell said.

Carswell also has two dogs that remain “sadly” with her parents in Phoenix.

“I have a pit bull, and then we think a pit bull mixed with a terrier but we’re not sure, because we got him from the shelter, so they’re not really sure, but they’re great,” Carswell said.

In addition to winning the gold medal in the pentathlon at the 2024 Atlantic 10 Conference Indoor Track and Field Championships, Carswell was ranked in the top 10 in the state of Arizona in the high jump and the long jump during her high school career.

“I’ve been running around the area, which is fun. Then I’m trying to get into pickleball, but it got kind of cold, so once it gets a little warmer I’ll start doing that again,” Carswell said.

“This was actually my capstone project for my master’s at [Arizona State University],” said SPD Support Services Manager Erin Loeffler, who received a criminology degree in June 2023. “I was in dispatch at the time, and then was promoted to dispatch supervisor, getting my master’s before I became the support services manager. The project was that we had to come up with a program that did not already exist in an existing criminal justice process or department.”

Loeffler said that she created a decision package for the victim advocate position at the direction of SPD Chief Stephanie Foley that was approved by city council last April 17 at a cost of $82,870.

“I did a bunch of research. I utilized the assistance of other victim advocate programs and neighboring agencies, like Cottonwood already had one, Prescott, PD has an amazing victim advocate program that assisted me to say, here’s some of the good training that they should go to,” Loeffler said. “It’s also a lot of work because it is a brand-new program, and there aren’t a lot of resources here in Sedona. So she’s had to make connections with outside organizations.”

Loeffler said the goal of the position is to reduce victimization.

“The No. 1 predicator of victimization is prior victimization,” Loeffler said. “People get stuck in that system where they aren’t aware of resources out there. So having this [position] we can help ensure victims are less likely to experience further scams, or remain in harmful domestic situations, or feel trapped because they believe no one will help them.”

Carswell can be reached at SPD’s non-emergency line at (928) 282-3100 or jcarswell@sedonaaz.gov.