Police defend handling of sex-assault allegations

An investigation into how sexual assault cases are handled has put police in Central Saanich and Oak Bay in the spotlight for having high rates of complaints classified as “unfounded.”

According to data collected by the Globe and Mail, Central Saanich police dismissed 60 per cent of sexual assault allegations as unfounded between 2010 and 2014 — the highest rate in Canada.

In Oak Bay, 44 per cent of sexual assault cases were logged as unfounded.

The national average was about 19 per cent, according to the Globe’s analysis, which was based on data from 873 police jurisdictions across Canada. An unfounded classification “means that the investigator does not believe a criminal offence occurred or was attempted,” wrote reporter Robyn Doolittle.

However, the chiefs of the Central Saanich and Oak Bay departments say the numbers need to be considered in context, and note that the results could be skewed because of the relatively low number of sexual assaults reported in their jurisdictions. They also fear that a characterization of the departments as skeptical could deter victims from coming forward.

Central Saanich Police Chief Les Sylven, who investigated sexual assault cases for a decade when he was with the Victoria Police Department, said he’s upset by the suggestion that Central Saanich officers are more likely to think a victim is lying.

“We work so hard to try and get people to — when they’ve been through a horrible, horrible experience — to trust us, to come forward,” Sylven said.

“To be told, through misinterpretation of statistics, that we’re going to call you a liar and prevent one person from coming to us … I have such a hard time with that. To make the leap that unfounded means police don’t believe you, that’s not the case.”

The Globe’s data, which was obtained through freedom of information requests made to police services, shows that 15 of 25 Central Saanich cases were classified as unfounded in the five-year period.

Sylven said six of the cases should have been classified as “founded but cleared.” (Reclassifying the six cases results in an unfounded rate of 36 per cent.) In four of the cases, the victims later said the assault did not happen, and police were convinced there was not any coercion at play.

Oak Bay Police Chief Andrew Brinton said he doesn’t think the results are statistically significant.

“When you’re talking about 16 files over a five-year period, we could have a one- or two-file reduction and that shows us at a significantly lower percentage,” he said.

“I think care needs to be taken in approaching this from a strictly academic and numbers perspective. There’s a lot of dynamics at play.”

At the same time, Brinton said anything that promotes a dialogue around sexual assault is a good thing.

Karen Wickham, crisis line and clinic co-ordinator for the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre, said the numbers are a concern — but she also worries that ranking forces based on their unfounded rates could deter people from going to police.

“I can definitely say it may, it’s highly likely that it would deter someone from reaching out to that detachment, and it’s really concerning,” Wickham said.

According to Statistics Canada, more than 90 per cent of sexual assaults are never reported to police.

“It could be they aren’t wanting to engage in the criminal justice system,” Wickham said. “In most sexual assaults, the person is known to them, so that can complicate reporting. It may be that their support systems aren’t that great.”

The centre works with sexual assault victims who are thinking about making a police report and counsellors tell them what to expect during police interviews and during a possible trial.

“We’ll assist them with making that police report and follow them as they go through the court system,” Wickham said.