HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 04-20 To combat low reporting, officials look to train officers better MNDAILY4/20/2016
To combat low reporting, officials look to train officers better
MINNESOTADAILY
To combat low reporting, officials look
to train officers better
To encourage sexual assault victims is
advanced training.
By Taya Banjac [3] f grill 20, 2.0n6 (lis ho urs aaggo)
Of the less than 20 percent of sexual assaults reported
to police, only about 3 percent lead to an arrest. Even
fewer lead to felony convictions with time served.
To address how initial police interactions with victims
could be shaping the outcome of sexual assault cases,
Ramsey County officials and the St. Paul City Council
have adopted the "Start by Believing" initiative, which
aims to curb negativity on the part of law
enforcement.
[4]
Sexual assault survivors spear
during a Panel of Hope at the
Ramsey County Start By
Believing event at Hamlin
University in St. Paul on April 13.
"We want to create a culture that allows for victims to By 1Vladdy Fox
feel free to tell us what happened," said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi at a
meeting last week at Hamline University led by local project partners. "The time is right
for this community in Ramsey County to ... take that next step."
The initiative calls for advanced trauma and interviewing training for anyone who has
direct contact with victim -survivors, such as law enforcement and advocates, said
Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell. The University of Minnesota Police Department is
also involved with the project, he said.
Schnell said many departments' facts -only approach makes victim -survivors feel like
officers don't believe them.
"There is a whole lot of pressures on victims, but we don't want us to be one of the
pressures that causes them to disengage [during an investigation]," Schnell said.
Schnell said if police officers are trained to handle sensitive situations, victim -survivors
could be more likely to share their stories. He said some of that training is already
underway and has been well-received.
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4/20/2016
To combat low reporting, officials look to train officers better
To fight low prosecution rates and fill gaps in investigation processes, the Ramsey
County Attorney's Office will start a 22 -month-long review of uncharged sexual assault
cases, Choi said.
He said two-thirds of investigated cases never make it to the prosecutor's office.
Officials will review records, interview investigators and prosecutors and talk to victims
to find why certain cases were never presented, investigated or reported.
"We're trying to create a database so we can better understand what is happening and
isn't happening and then determine what we can change," Choi said. "We want to do
right by the victims.
The office is also consulting with universities to understand campus assaults and
coordinate their efforts.
Even fewer college rape victims report their assaults to police. Coming forward for
students can be complex, since perpetrators are almost always someone they know.
According to the University of Minnesota's Aurora Center, less than 12 percent of college
rape victims report to police, and most perpetrators report committing multiple
assaults.
Katie Eichele, director of the Aurora Center, said more victims are starting to report to
the UMPD. But fears of retaliation, victim -blaming and the possibility of testifying
sometimes stops those who don't use the University of Minnesota's complaint system
from coming forward, she said.
"It isn't that they can't [file a report]. It's that they know that the standards are so much
higher," Eichele said. "Then, to drag yourself through that difficult process.... It's more
traumatizing than it is empowering."
Karla Bauer, a panelist at last week's meeting, said she was raped as a student while at
the University of North Dakota after being drugged at a party. Bauer reported her
assault to the campus police, but when she talked to officers, she said she felt
discouraged.
"The response wasn't extremely supportive. By the end of it, I said to him, `File that
report away, and if some other girl comes forward, sometime maybe that will be helpful
to you. It's fine, just forget it,"' she said at the meeting.
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To combat low reporting, officials look to train officers better
She said with the support of her family and Jerry Bulisco, then UND's dean of student
affairs, she decided go through the university's system.
After the trial was over, the school only found her attacker guilty of giving alcohol to a
minor.
"I was told this is different than a court room," Bauer said.
Bauer said she left UND and had her student loans refunded for that semester with
Bulisco's help.
"He was this amazing person who was so wonderful and supportive of me, but the
university as a whole, nothing," she said.
Cordelia Anderson, a sexual assault training consultant who spoke at the event, said the
initiative comes at a critical movement for the movement.
"What we've never done before ... is get people fired up who aren't just the professionals
and the advocates who do this work," Anderson said.
There are still obstacles to tackle, she said, like overcoming unconscious biases.
"We have to get people to understand that, really, prevention is possible," Anderson
said. "We have to challenge those ideas that certain people are just entitled to take what
they want when they want."
But when the crime does occur, Maplewood Police Chief Paul Schnell said, law
enforcement needs to create an atmosphere where trust replaces trauma.
"Catching these stories are hard ... and even though sometimes we won't do it perfectly,
there is an opportunity to go back and connect," he said
Source URL: http://mndaily.com/news/metro state/2016/04/20/combat-low-reportingmofficialsmlook-trainmofficersm
better
Links:
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[2] http://nmdaily.com/news/metro-state
[3] http://mndaily.com/users/tbanjac
[4] http://mndaily.com/multimedia/photos/2016/04/19/042016stbelieving-I
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