Army in dark about sexual convictions

OTTAWA— While military commanders have pointed to an increase in criminal investigations as proof the fight against sexual misconduct is working, military justice officials admit they don’t know how many service members are ever convicted.

It’s one of a number of statistical deficiencies that military officials say they are working to address — a fix experts say is essential for instilling confidence in victims and ensuring cases are being handled properly.

According to the Canadian Forces National Investigative Service, military police opened 174 investigations into sexual allegations in 2015, as compared to 106 during the first six months of 2016. Officials say the majority of cases were sexual assaults. Of those 280, 49 led to charges.

Military police can refer cases to either military or civilian courts. The investigative service says 40 of the 49 that led to charges in 2015 and the first six months of 2016 went to civilian courts, which are not tracked.

Lt.-Col. Brian Frei, deputy commander of the forces’ military police group, said, “In terms of tracking military offenders through civilian courts, that’s something that we have not historically done in a way that would allow us to do statistics.”