‘A game changer’: Sacramento County sheriff unveils ‘soft’ interview rooms to help victims

Ishani Desai
·2 min read
4

It was December 1976 and 15-year-old Kris Pedretti had just been raped at knifepoint by Joseph James DeAngelo — the notorious Golden State Killer and East Area Rapist, sentenced to life in prison for murdering 13 people and raping dozens more.

But when law enforcement sought to take her statement, they fingerprinted and took her picture, putting her through the same process as a suspect, Pedretti said in a phone interview. Then, officers interviewed her in the same room she was raped.

Her experiences — and that of countless other sexual assault survivors — motivated them to cobble together funding for new “soft interview rooms” to be created at Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office stations. The new, trauma informed concept was unveiled Thursday at the department’s central station, 7000 65th St. near Florin Road.

“It’s really going to be a game changer,” Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper said during the unveiling Thursday. “So, I am excited about that.”

Soft interview rooms incorporate warmer lighting, soothing wall colors and non-triggering artwork adorning the walls to help ease victims during interviews with law enforcement officials, said Gaye Hardwick, another survivor of the Golden State Killer. She said it helps to create a safe space in which victims can comfortably recount their harrowing experiences, and law enforcement can receive the details they need to solve cases.

More cases will be solved because victims feel comforted, Hardwick said, and she believes these settings can help victims provide more details to detectives. There will be toys, refreshments and blankets in the room to help children as well, she said.

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office unveiled new “soft interview rooms” Thursday at their Central Station, 7000 65th St. It’s a room incorporating non-triggering artwork and muted colors to help victims be at ease while talking to law enforcement.
The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office unveiled new “soft interview rooms” Thursday at their Central Station, 7000 65th St. It’s a room incorporating non-triggering artwork and muted colors to help victims be at ease while talking to law enforcement.

Sponsors of the soft rooms include the Sheriff’s Office, 711 Club, Elk Grove Police Department, Florin Historical Society, Healing with Hope Family Justice Center, It’s Time to Tell Your Story, Supervisor Pat Hume’s Office, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office and the Soroptomist Club.

Pedretti said the interview rooms have also been completed in the Sheriff’s Office station in Rancho Cordova and at the Sheriff’s Office headquarters on Orange Grove.

“They turn pain into power,” said Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho, who prosecuted the Golden State Killer case, said of survivors. “Tragedy into triumph.”