‘The credit is due to the survivors’: Lawrence police update sexual assault policies
The Lawrence Police Department updated its policy for investigating sex crimes, outlining reporting options for victims and creating an emphasis on identifying serial offenders.
The department also plans to create a special victims unit to handle sexual assault cases, spokeswoman Sgt. Amy Rhoads said in an email to The Star Friday.
The amended policy was put into effect Monday, though Rhoads said the department began reviewing their policy in July.
“Although the LPD revising its outdated policy is a step in the right direction, a policy update by itself cannot provide the change necessary to overcome the underlying bias and victim-blaming ideologies that we have seen from the LPD,” said Cheryl Pilate, the attorney for a KU law student who was charged last year with making a false report of rape. The charges were dropped in October.
In December, The Kansas City Star found that the department’s investigations have led to more false report cases against women who reported sexual assault and domestic violence than similarly situated departments and that officers are not as well trained to handle such cases as their counterparts elsewhere in the region.
University of Kansas students who reported rape to the department said officers didn’t believe them when they reported sexual assault. They said they were treated as suspects and complained of victim-shaming, retraumatization and investigations that were over before they really started.
Now, some of those survivors say they are surprised but grateful for the changes. But, they said, this needs to be a continued commitment from law enforcement.
“I really never thought that (a special victims unit) would actually become a reality for people in Lawrence,” said a survivor, who previously told The Star that a detective said assaults like hers happen when college women “experiment.”
“Not that long ago we were just talking about the change we’d like to see happen and now it’s really happening. Which is really cool to see and makes me really proud that I had something to do with it ... A lot of the credit is due to the survivors who have come forward and spoken up.”
The Star generally does not name possible victims of sexual assault without their permission.
The department’s announcement follows an announcement last month from the Douglas County District Attorney outlining plans for new training and county-wide protocols.
New policies
The updated policy includes many aspects that were already in the previous policy document last updated in 2018.
Among those is a requirement that if an officer determines a case is unfounded it must be reviewed by the investigations supervisor before it can be marked as such. The department also has the same list of training on each document to be provided to officers “subject to available resources.”
That training, Rhoads said, has already been provided to officers and detectives.
New additions, however, include an expansion of reporting options for victims and a requirement that investigators perform an “inquiry into serial sexual assault” for each case.
The reporting options are similar to those announced last year by the Riley County Police Department. Survivors have the option to give an information-only report preventing further investigation, a partial report telling the officers what they are and are not comfortable with, or a full report in which detectives have range to take all necessary investigative steps.
According to the policy, survivors can change their mind about how much they’d like investigators to do at any point.
Rhoads said these options have always existed for survivors reporting to police but they are only now being outlined in policy.
“We are hoping that survivors will better understand their options and feel more in control of the situation as they work with Law Enforcement to hold the offender accountable,” Rhoads said in her email.
For each report officers will do an inquiry into serial sexual assault. This inquiry is a series of steps officers will take to determine if a suspect exhibits signs of being a serial offender. This could include searching national databases, identifying the suspect’s behavior surrounding the alleged assault, searching social media and seeking information that can identify the suspect’s motives or additional victims.
“The ISSA (inquiry into serial sexual assault) would enhance the department’s ability to detect trends or actions that might suggest a connection between investigations,” Rhoads said.
That inquiry, the policy says, will be done in a manner designed to preserve the survivor’s identity if that is what they want.
New special victims unit
About a year ago, Rhoads said, the Lawrence Police Department began considering creating a special victims unit.
She said the exact structure of the unit is still being developed and a timeline for implementation of the unit does not yet exist. It will depend, she said, on resources, training and research.
Currently, however, the department is looking at creating a four to six person team, including a supervisor, detectives and officers. The unit would be responsible for investigating all crimes against children and sex crimes.
“We hope that the incorporation of this special unit will encourage survivors to come forward and provide information,” Rhoads said.
“We also believe that by having this unit review each case, we will be able to ensure a consistent and quality investigation and identify any trends, which we can work to address in the community.”
Cautious about changes
Survivors and advocates said they are happy to see the department making changes but remain cautious and hope these changes are the start of a lasting effort in Lawrence.
“Describing what ‘should’ happen in a sexual assault investigation versus implementing true change are two very different things,” Pilate, the attorney, said. “We hope the addition of a special victims unit will be a positive development and will help to prevent other sexual assault victims from being traumatized and harmed by the criminal justice system in Lawrence.”
Angela Garza, who told The Star in December that an officer told her she wasn’t raped because she was in a relationship with the suspect, said she’s happy to see the changes and the impact it will have on future survivors.
However, she said, the department is not addressing those they’ve already harmed.
“It’s honestly really great when you see an entire department like LPD actively trying to make a change after seeing how many people have issues with a certain way they do things, so props to them for that,” she said. “But at the same time I worry if it’s too little too late.”
The department needs systemic change and this is a first step, said the survivor who said she was victim-shamed by a detective.
The department, she said, needs to commit to improving and bring in new officers and experts from outside Lawrence to help make that happen.
“I think the most important thing is they understand how to prosecute sex crimes in a way that if alcohol or drugs are involved — you can’t just read a text message and decide what experience someone had,” she said.
Anne Divine, the president of a KU student group that launched a letter-writing campaign to Lawrence officials demanding change, said it’s good to know that her organization was heard and to see an effort to make changes.
But she said she was concerned that the policy still allows for officers who are not trained in trauma-informed investigations to interview survivors. That training, she said, is key to ensuring effective communication.
Furthermore, she said, the department needs to be transparent as it forms the special victims unit and changes its policy.
“This is a step and this is not the endpoint and there’s still a lot that can be done,” said Divine, the president of the KU Edwards Campus Bachelor’s of Social Work Student group.
“They (police) are working for (the community’s) safety, their betterment and they should feel that they have the power to voice their concerns about what’s happening or isn’t happening and have that be taken seriously.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
