Jill Schramm/MDN Karen Pfeifer, a victim-witness coordinator in the Ward County State’s Attorney’s Office, stands in a Courthouse courtroom May 25.

Dealing with crowded court calendars and tight deadlines doesn’t daunt Karen Pfeifer, who finds the rewards in helping crime victims navigate the court process far outweigh the challenges.

“I’m really passionate about this job,” said Pfeifer, a victim/witness coordinator in the Ward County State’s Attorney’s Office since 2011. “It’s very busy. It’s very fast paced and fast moving, and I think I work well that way.”

Since 2016, crime victims have received Marsy’s Law cards that inform them of their constitutional rights. However, even prior to 2016, victims had rights under state law that victim/witness coordinators have helped clients exercise, Pfeifer said.

In addition, coordinators work to prepare witnesses who are unfamiliar with the testimony process.

Pfeifer’s decision to become a victim/witness coordinator came in a roundabout way. A native of McClusky, Pfeifer attended North Dakota State University with an interest in interior design but ended up shifting her degree focus to child development and family science. That led to an internship in a law office handling child custody and divorce cases.

The internship whetted her interest in law and led her to join the Ward County State’s Attorney’s Office in March 2011 as a file clerk. When the position of victim/witness coordinator opened the following September, she applied.

“I’m ever so grateful that I did because I knew that I wanted something more. In this position, you get all that and then some. No two days are ever the same. And I like that,” she said.

Pfeifer was the county’s only coordinator for about a year and half. Now there are two others – Kaitlin Willert and Lesley Degele.

Each day brings communication with new clients based on new arrests, updates for existing clients on their cases and possibly accompanying clients who wish to attend any court events that are scheduled.

Depending on the case, there might be one victim or dozens. To help with the advocacy process, a North Dakota program exists to provide electronic alerts to victims to let them know if there is an action related to their offenders, such as bonding out of custody or change in court date.

In addition to the paperwork and documentation associated with a coordinator’s job, part of the role involves working with clients to determine restitution requests. One of her most rewarding cases was helping a client to receive more than $1.1 million in restitution, Pfeifer said.

Coordinators also ensure that victims have resources as necessary, whether it is counseling or security measures to help them feel safe again. Clients can experience emotions ranging from grief to frustration or anger.

“We can be on the receiving end of some very angry calls. I feel like the best thing to do is just speak calmly and provide a little bit of trust within the process,” Pfeifer said. “I work to not take it personally because they are ultimately going through something, and that’s their season. I think that we all go through seasons and we need to do the best that we can to positively progress through those.”

She also understands the impact a crime can have on victims.

“That’s traumatizing. That’s overwhelming, so sometimes sitting down face-to-face is very helpful to them. We break things down and we talk about this step, that step and the next step, so it’s not so overwhelming,” she said.

Coordinators might maintain contact with victims over a long period of time. They continue to update victims after conviction and sentencing if probation or parole come up or if there are other issues, such as problems getting restitution. Pfeifer said she sometimes gets calls from former clients who just want to report how they are doing.

“It’s kind of nice to hear from them, actually,” she said.

The difficulty of long cases is the inability of victims to achieve closure when they’re ready to put a case behind them, Pfeifer said. When a case does reach closure, it can be emotional for both the coordinators and the clients.

“There are going to be those victims that are so thankful, so grateful. They ride out the process and at the end, where there is that light of finality, there’s times where I feel a lump in my throat or I’m feeling like I’m going to have some waterworks coming,” Pfeifer said.

Pfeifer has discovered the importance of carving out personal time, away from the demands and emotions of the job. Her mental release comes through golfing and following her two children in their sports activities. Uplifting music sometimes helps at work to keep her attitude positive.

“You have to keep your cup full in order to be there for somebody else,” she explained.

Pfeifer takes advantage of opportunities to network with other coordinators through the North Dakota Victim Assistance Association, which also provides training. She said she values the support of those colleagues across the state as well as the support of family and co-workers, including the attorneys and law enforcement officers with whom she works.

“I’ve built some really great relationships,” she said. “I’ve had excellent mentors.”

(Prairie Profile is a weekly feature profiling interesting people in our region. We welcome suggestions from our readers. Call Regional Editor Eloise Ogden at 857-1944 or call 1-800-735-3229. You also can send email suggestions to eogden@minotdailynews.com.)