Gatineau police offer another look at past sex-crime cases
More than half the sexual assaults reported to Gatineau police do not result in charges, a statistic the police hope to change by teaming up with some outside partners.
And they are starting by inviting recent victims of sexual crimes whose files were closed without charges to approach police and ask for another look.
The police are joining with organizations that specialize in support for victims of crime, including the Centre d’aide aux victimes d’actes criminels (CAVAC) and the Centre d’intervention en abus sexuels pour la famille.
“We want to be on top of best practices,” said Insp. Éric Toussaint. This means making a victim “feel comfortable in pressing charges.”
These groups specialize in working with victims, he said, “and that’s why we are having them on the committee.”
Gatineau lays charges in about 40 per cent of the sexual assaults reported each year, while the rest are classified as unsolved (often for insufficient evidence) or, rarely, unfounded.
The city has had between 245 and 320 sexual crime complaints in each of the past four years, including sexual assaults, voyeurs and exhibitionists. Now people who made complaints in the past year, and whose complaints led nowhere, are being offered a second look. “Any victims can go on our website and ask for their files to be reviewed,” Toussaint said.
The review would begin by examining how the person’s first contact with police was handled, and may go as far as having investigators interview witnesses again, he said.
Numbers of reported sex assaults have risen in the past five years, though this does not mean there is more crime, Toussaint said. He suspects there is simply a growing tendency for victims to go to police. At CAVAC, a support group for all types of crime, Kathleen Dufour is happy to see the changes. Her group is participating in the new committee.
“Every day we meet victims of sexual crimes who tell us that it frightened them to go to the police,” she said.
For many of them the criminal is someone they know, a friend, co-workers or relative, she said. This makes it harder for victims to make a complaint.
Dufour said it will help her organization to talk to investigators about what would be the best possible approach for the victims, and what will answer the needs of the victims who decide to go to the police. But she said the benefits will run in both directions. Her own staff, and others on the new committee, will learn useful details about the nature of the police work.
“How does a police investigation go? What is the job of the police? What is each stage of investigation that must take place?
“We already gather this information and bring it to the victims, (telling them) what they can expect when they make a complaint to the police. The more we work closely with police, the better we will be able to support the victims.
“It’s when the victims have good information that they can make an informed choice about whether to complain to the police or not.”