Sex Assault Task Force In Baltimore County Releases Report

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — The Baltimore County Sex Assault Investigation Task Force has released its findings after a months-long review, including the discovery that many rape kits are not being tested and that both prosecutors and police may not have a firm handle on the definition of rape in determining whether to press charges.

Upon auditing the Baltimore Police Department's sex assault cases from 2016 to 2018, the task force issued 23 recommendations, from establishing a special victims interview room to establishing better tracking systems for sex assault cases.

Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski assembled the task force in February, the month after he asked the Baltimore County Police Department to stop using a waiver form allowing police to immediately stop investigating sex assault cases. The task force was charged with examining current investigation and prosecution policies, practices and training related to sexual assault complaints.

Here are some of the findings from the audit:

• Of the cases it audited, the task force found 36 percent included waiver forms that were signed, allowing police to stop investigating.
• If a rape kit was collected as part of the investigation, it was likely not tested. The audit found that in 78 percent of 72 kits collected in the cases it audited, the rape kit was not tested.
• Investigators and prosecutors both did not seem to understand or apply the new federal definition of rape, which does not require resistance, in deciding whether to proceed with filing charges in their cases.

As a result of the task force's review, it issued 23 recommendations, most of which are under review or in the process of being implemented.

Some have been completed, such as increasing staffing in special victims unit and signing a memorandum of understanding with six universities — UMBC, Towson, Goucher, Stevenson, CCBC and Loyola — codifying standard operating procedures in sex assault cases involving victims from or on college campuses.

One recommendation suggests officers write an incident report each time they respond to an incident of reported sexual assault. Currently, the police department's policy requires writing a report, but the task force found this was not being followed and was left to the discretion of the officer.

Some recommendations called for coding sex assault cases so that they can be tracked better, including the ability to check for patterns at places like mental health institutions or nursing homes.

The task force recommended that it reconvene in January 2021 to conduct a random audit of 50 cases to check on the status of its recommendations. In the meantime, the implementation of the recommendations should be under the purview of the county executive's office.

Read the full report.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

SEE ALSO:

• Baltimore County Exec Forms Sexual Assault Investigation Task Force
• Baltimore County Introduces Police Reforms: Cameras, Sex Detectives, Outside Review