Edmonton Journal

EPS plans online reporting for ‘historical’ sex assaults

Program aims to offer another way for sexual assault survivors to come forward

- JONNY WAKEFIELD

Letting sexual assault survivors file police reports online could encourage more people to come forward and raise dismal reporting rates of the crime, says the head of the Edmonton police sexual assault section.

In a presentati­on to the Edmonton Police Commission Thursday, Staff Sgt. Christa Pennie said city police plan to introduce online reporting for sexual assaults some time next year.

“It’s not going to be for reporting crimes that are occurring right now. Those crimes still need to be reported to police, and we need to come out and collect the evidence when it’s fresh,” she said.

“It definitely will come in handy and help people who have historical files,” she added. “Because I think (one) of the challenges they face is they don’t want a police car coming to their house because we all know the stigma of a police car in front of our house. I see the online reporting as allowing them that opportunit­y to engage us, and then we engage them.”

Edmonton currently allows residents to report six different property crimes to police online. Pennie said police in Windsor and Hamilton saw an uptick in sexual assault reporting when they introduced online reporting.

“We would like to encourage people to come forward because we’re here to help them deal with (sexual assault) however they want to deal with it,” she added.

Data released recently by the Edmonton Community Foundation showed the city has one of the highest rates of sexual assault in Canada, with 72 assaults per 100,000 people in 2016.

The national rate that year was 58 assaults per 100,000; only Winnipeg had a higher rate than Edmonton among major cities.

Last year, 743 sexual assaults were reported to Edmonton police, up from 644 the year before. There have been 600 reports so far in 2018. Research shows between 88 and 95 per cent of sexual assaults go unreported, Pennie said, meaning Edmonton could have had as many as 14,117 sexual assaults last year that police don’t know about.

I see the online reporting as allowing them that opportunit­y to engage us, and then we engage them.

The sexual assault section has 10 detectives and handles the most serious cases. In addition to investigat­ing crimes, they help connect survivors with resources in the city, she said.

They also accept reports from people who don’t necessaril­y want to pursue charges.

“A lot of times people just want the informatio­n down until they make the decision of what they want to do,” Pennie said.

Reporting ebbs and flows depending on many factors, including economic conditions and how much media attention is being paid to sexual assault, she said.

She said the number of files the section handles each year has been increasing more due to population increases than a larger percentage of survivors choosing to report their assaults.

A 2017 Globe and Mail investigat­ion found police forces tend to dismiss sexual assaults as “unfounded” at a much higher rate than other crimes. Experts said that trend further depresses already low reporting rates. An allegation is classified as “unfounded” if police determine it did not occur or was not attempted, Pennie said.

The national unfounded rate for sexual assault was 14 per cent in 2017, according to her presentati­on. Edmonton was below average at 9.2 per cent.

 ?? JONNY WAKEFIELD ?? Edmonton Police Service Staff Sgt. Christa Pennie says she hopes making sexual assault easier to report help people come forward.
JONNY WAKEFIELD Edmonton Police Service Staff Sgt. Christa Pennie says she hopes making sexual assault easier to report help people come forward.

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