On June 2nd the New York Times published an
article by John Eligon detailing how four separate women in New York City have had extremely
negative experiences when reporting a rape or sexual assault to the New York Police
Department (NYPD). The victims describe the detectives who investigated their
claims as unsympathetic and skeptical. One victim reported that her assailant,
who was known to her, was never arrested, despite the fact that she had a
witness, medically documented injuries and evidence linking him to the crime. The
victim had been in contact with a sergeant and a detective in the NYPD Special
Victims Division who assured her that they would look into her case, but later
a Brooklyn prosecutor informed her that her
case had been closed. Another victim reported that when she told a detective
that a man she knew well suddenly snapped while they were talking in her
apartment and began strangling her and trying to force her to give him oral
sex, the detective said “sounds like rough sex gone awry.”
Inadequate police response to sexual assault is not unique
to New York City.
Legal Momentum is involved in a Pennsylvania
case currently before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in which a young
woman, Sara Reedy, was robbed and raped at gunpoint in the convenience store
where she worked. The detective assigned to the case assumed Reedy was lying
and had her imprisoned for five days for false reporting and theft. Her
assailant went on to rape two other women in the locality using the same MO. Only
after he was caught and confessed was Reedy released and the charges against
her dropped. She sued the detective and his police department for unlawful
search, unlawful seizure, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. The
federal trial court judge, as much in need of education about sexual assault as
the detective, ruled against Reedy, claiming that there was enough
inculpatory evidence for the detective to rightfully believe she was lying,
because, for example, while the rapist held a gun to her head she “failed” to
press a panic button that was within arm’s reach. (To read the brief to which Legal
Momentum contributed in Reedy v. Evanson click
here.)
Legal Momentum also provides education for judges about sexual assault through
its National Judicial
Education Program (NJEP) and NJEP’s Understanding
Sexual Violence materials.
The indifference to rape of an entire police department was
revealed in a 1999 newspaper investigation in Philadelphia which documented that the local
police had systematically failed to follow through on hundreds of rape and
sexual assault complaints, dismissing them without investigation. (More
information about the investigation is available here).This investigation
sparked uproar within the women’s rights community and resulted in the
Philadelphia Police Commissioner setting up a review committee in conjunction
with women’s advocacy and legal groups. The committee reviewed all the rape
cases from the previous year that the police dismissed as unfounded and was
able to reinstate many. This committee’s collaboration with the Philadelphia police
department is ongoing.
The NYPD’s mishandling of sex assault cases is particularly disturbing because
of the abundance of training materials designed specifically to educate law enforcement
as well as other professionals about sexual assault. A major component of the Violence
Against Women Act (VAWA), which Legal Momentum helped to draft and pass, provides
funds to educate medical professionals, victim advocates, law enforcement,
prosecutors and judges. VAWA funding enabled the International Association of
Chiefs of Police (IACP) to establish the National Law Enforcement Leadership Institute
on Violence Against Women which aims to build “leadership capacity of sworn law enforcement executives across the
United States on violence against women crimes, strengthening the commitment of
law enforcement officers to respond to these crimes, and enhance the ability of
communities to respond to victims.” The IACP has developed excellent
educational material that have made a significant difference in the practices
of law enforcement officers and campus security nationwide. (You can visit the
IACP’s website here)
Also on June 2nd John Eligon wrote a second article in the New
York Times detailing that in a positive step forward, New York Police Commissioner
Raymond W. Kelly appointed a task force to deal with the recent mishandling of
sexual assault cases. The task force has called for more training for officers
on the appropriate procedures when dealing with sexual assault crimes, and it will
investigate individual complaints, such a those Eligon described in his first
article, to see if they have been dealt with adequately. Police departments
across the nation must act with sensitivity and responsibility and follow the
example of the IACP if they are to be successful in protecting rape and sexual
assault victims.
To read both of John Eligon’s articles in the New York Times click here
and here
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