Horrible

Submitted by Amanda Fritz on June 19, 2007 - 10:35am.

Horrible findings in a Portland Auditor's report (big pdf), "Sexual Assault and Investigation: Portland efforts fall short of a victim-centered approach" released today and covered by Aimee Green in the Oregonian.

From the report:

"The City of Portland stands at a crossroads in its handling of sexual assault cases. Currently, Portland’s system does not meet best practice standards for responding to victims’ needs or investigating cases."

"The magnitude of Oregon’s sexual assault problem is considerable. According to a 2003 report, “one out of every six adult women, or about 230,000 adult women in Oregon, has been the victim of forcible rape sometime in her lifetime.

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It occurs to me that
Submitted by Amanda Fritz on June 19, 2007 - 10:42am.
It occurs to me that checking the Police Bureau's rate of arrest for non-rape aggravated assaults would provide additional information about the bureau's effectiveness on rape crimes. I can't find a ready source to provide that statistic (if anyone else can, please add a comment), but the 2006 Annual report shows 678 arrests for murder/aggravated assault last year, and 2,285 reported cases. That is a 29.67% arrest rate, for comparison with the 16% "clearance rate" quoted by the Auditor for rapes.
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See also Nick Budnick's
Submitted by Amanda Fritz on June 19, 2007 - 10:45am.
See also Nick Budnick's Portland Tribune article today, in which Auditor Gary Blackmer is quoted saying, "“The surprise for me was that it wasn’t just the detectives (who are at fault),
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A Multnomah County chief
Submitted by FrankDufay on June 20, 2007 - 6:37am.
A Multnomah County chief deputy district attorney is quoted saying that "the community has to decide if it wants sexual assault aggressively investigated and prosecuted. I don't recall the community ever saying it didn't want rape cases aggresively investigated and prosecuted. What a bizarre statement out of the DA's office, like somehow it's the public to blame. I appreciate the Auditor's report putting this issue on the front burner, and I hope we keep it there until we see a sea change on dealing with this.
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Excellent Editorial in the
Submitted by Amanda Fritz on June 20, 2007 - 7:55am.
Excellent Editorial in the Oregonian on the subject today. It concludes, "This isn't just troubling, as Potter characterized the problem in his official response to the audit. It's a system that somehow fails to capitalize on the staff's many good qualities, then allows rapists to run free.
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