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The RCMP announced today the results of its unfounded sexual assault file review, and outlined actions they will take to strengthen their response.
The RCMP has released The Way Forward: The RCMP’s Sexual Assault Review and Victim Support Action Plan, which outline the results of their look into unfounded sexual assault files.
“Sexual assault is a devastating crime that has traumatic and long-lasting effects on victims. A negative experience with police investigators can bring more trauma to victims, and discourage others from reporting these crimes,” reads the plan.
The finding from looking at cases from 2016 made it clear that changes are necessary, the plan says.
The RCMP responded to 10,038 reported sexual assault cases across Canada. A total of 284 files were identified for further investigation.
There were 2,225 files that were classified as unfounded, and 1,260 that were misclassified.
The review team also found qualitative issues with some investigations, including insufficient documentation of how a case was pursued or the reason behind why it was classified as unfounded.
The RCMP also conducted a sample review of 93 sexual assault cases from 2015, and found that investigators “misinterpreted the unfounded category.”
RCMP announces actions to strengthen sexual assault investigations and victim support. https://t.co/ljZM9AYp9K #MYActionsMatter #EndViolence pic.twitter.com/gVNIJG0HUn
— RCMP (@rcmpgrcpolice) December 13, 2017
In response, the National Headquarters review team will be conducting an expanded file review to include all sexual assault investigations not cleared by charge for 2015, 2016, and 2017.
A “best practices guide” for sexual assault investigations will also be provided for investigators for conducting more comprehensive investigations, and the RCMP will develop a new training curriculum for sexual assault investigations.
Policies and procedures will also be updated so that investigators must provide clear justification for classifying a file as unfounded, which then must be approved by an immediate supervisor.
According to a 2015 Statistics Canada report, an estimated 635,000 incidents of sexual assault occurred in Canada in 2014, of which an estimated 90% were not reported to police. In the same survey, victims of sexual assault reported having lower confidence in police.
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