The Police Department is changing its policy on sexual assault investigations in response to a case in which detectives did not believe a victim and - for a time - closed her file while an attacker was on the loose.
Chief Mike Goldsmith sent a memo to the City Council, City Manager Marcus Jones and other officials Thursday, outlining changes he said would improve the way his department deals with sexual assault victims, including allowing rape crisis advocates in interviews and making sure victims are checked by medical staff.
Also, detectives in the Special Crimes Division will undergo training about post-traumatic stress disorder and rape trauma syndrome and an online program from End Violence Against Women International.
"I believe the enhanced procedures... will provide a well-rounded response and roadmap to assist victims of sexual assault on their road to recovery," Goldsmith wrote. Goldsmith said in the memo that he started a review of the Special Crimes Division after finding out about "the inappropriate treatment" of a victim, a reference to the sexual assault of a 22-year-old woman on April 26, 2012, in her East Ocean View apartment.
That night Roy Ruiz Loredo, a diagnosed serial rapist and sexual sadist, followed her home and sexually assaulted her. The victim later said a female investigator told her, "If we find out that you're lying, this will be a felony charge."
Later, during an interview at the Police Operations Center, two investigators from the Special Crimes Division doubted the victim's story, she said, upsetting her to the point that she left the interview. Police closed the case, but reopened it after she went back and gave a written statement.
A forensic investigator packaged a cup that Loredo drank from in her apartment. He was arrested two months later in Virginia Beach on allegations that he attacked, or tried to attack, three women near his neighborhood. Officers were able to match his DNA to DNA on the cup.
Loredo pleaded guilty in the Norfolk case and on May 31 was sentenced to 36 years in prison; he awaits trial in the Beach cases.
Goldsmith said that the revised guidelines include:
- Allowing victims to have a rape crisis advocate or personal representative present during the interview. If they decline, investigators will provide written information on organizations that can help.
- No longer classifying sexual assault cases as "unfounded." Sexual assault reports will be considered valid, unless proven otherwise.
- Making sure victims are taken to the hospital and given a sexual assault examination within 72 hours.
These are generally standard practices, but before now were not part of written policy, Assistant police Chief Joseph Clark wrote in an email.
In the East Ocean View case, investigators did not take the victim to a hospital or notify a sexual assault nurse examiner.
Goldsmith's memo also addressed questions posed to city officials by Joe Cook, a Norfolk man who started an online petition and is asking the city to explain why they did not release a composite of the suspect or say what discipline the officers faced, among other demands. More than 500 people signed it online.
Goldsmith said that information is part of a criminal file and internal investigation and would not be released.
The Virginian-Pilot generally does not identify the victims of sexual assault. The Ocean View victim said she hopes police not only put changes in writing but also stick to them.
"I kind of feel great that this is working out the way it's happening because now I don't expect anybody in the future to go through what I went through when you're totally innocent," she said. "I just hope they take it as serious as they say they are."
Classifying a rape case as "unfounded" essentially means police don't believe it happened, and it does not show up in crime statistics.
A 2012 report on sexual assault from the Police Executive Research Forum suggests that police stop using that classification for sexual assaults, saying it "remains a serious issue in many cities. In some cases, officers have 'unfounded' cases merely because they could not substantiate evidence of physical trauma or because they made judgments about whether prosecutors would consider the case weak."
In Baltimore, police examined 150 closed sex assault cases from 2009 that were "unfounded" and found that more than half should have remained open, according to the report.
Police in Virginia Beach have already stopped classifying sexual assault cases as unfounded, except in cases where an investigation shows the assault didn't happen.
Source: Virginian Pilot
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