Ed Kolakowski
Ed Kolakowski is one man but many things. He is a family man who loves going on camping trips in the new motor home he purchased this summer with his wife, two older sons, and younger daughter. He is a man of authority to those who find themselves in the back of his police car. And, he is a man who represents security for the children he has saved from abuse because of the services he provides to the Children’s Assessment Center.
Detective Kolakowski has lived on the west side of Michigan for his entire life. He attended Grand Rapids Community College, where he graduated from their police academy and began his career. He has been a detective for the Kent County Sheriff’s Department for eleven years and did not join the Children’s Assessment Center until three years ago.
Unfamiliar with what the Children’s Assessment Center was at the time, Kolakowski was offered a job as a staff detective. At first Kolakowski was hesitant to accept this position because child sexual abuse is such a fragile issue. But, eventually the offer grew on him, and Detective Kolakowski accepted the position and became part of the CAC.
His role at the Center is to investigate all cases of sexual abuse that involve children ages 16 years and younger. Detective Kolakowski’s job requires him to dig deep, ask questions, and get the answers to these questions in order to solve the case. “At times the job can be frustrating,” Kolakowski admits. There are moments when a victim cannot talk or the suspect will not talk, and you are left at square one. It is up to the staff of detectives, therapists, and children’s protective services workers to make a game plan and help as effectively as possible. He works with a forensic interviewer to interview the child and investigate the case. If necessary, he then works with children’s protective services to remove the abused children from their home and into a safer environment.
Every case is different, and the amount of evidence available to him varies. While some cases are easy to solve others require Kolakowski to be on top of his game. “You always have to be on your A game,” Kolakowski commented. With a serious tone in his voice he explains the need to work hard and always be aware of the situations around him. “You do not want anything to slip by,” Kolakowski says.
Although his role at the Children’s Assessment Center may seem hard at times and always very stressful, the reward of a job well done is always well worth it. To see a child safe and out of harm’s way is priceless and the best motivation a job could offer.
He is the voice, the eyes, the ears, and the core strength in the children who have been sexually abused. He stands to protect those children who are helpless and have been placed into a situation that is completely out of their hands and out of their control. These children, as Ed Kolakowski would put it, are the “true victims.”
— Danielle Gallo, Grand Valley State University
