Upgrading Sex Crimes

The NYPD has agreed to implement 6 recommendations of its Sex Crimes Working Group.  A  major recommendation would assign sex complaints to detectives of the  Sexual Victims Division (SVD)  who are trained to  handle and classify these complaints correctly. At present, these are often taken by patrol officers.

This should have far more immediate impact than the New York Times suit filed Tuesday, Dec. 21 in NY State Supreme Court against the NYPD to gain access to its misdemeanor and hate crime databanks, as required under NY State Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).

The Sex Crimes panel's recommendations address what many women claim —including some Kensington locals—is a downgrading of “rape and sexual-assault complaints…classified as lesser crimes …."  This affects the ability of NYPD to see sex crime patterns, says a journalist victim quoted in The Village Voice article.

“Harriet Lessel, executive director of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, … an advocacy group for rape-crisis programs, … [said] anecdotal evidence they collected suggested some sexual-assault reports weren't being taken, especially by patrol officers." See Wall Street Journal article.

In addition, NY City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito introduced 2 bills to require reporting on domestic violence and hate crimes and post stats on Domestic violence and hate crimes; Murders related to domestic violence and/or hate crimes; Felonious assaults related to domestic violence and/or hate crimes; and Rape incidences related to domestic violence to the My Neighborhood Statistics section of the city's website.

According to Councilwoman Mark-Viverito, "Domestic violence incidents and hate crimes remain at high levels in our city....A significant percentage of all murders in the city are committed at the hands of an intimate partner...."

And to complicate matters further, I have read that "Contrary to common belief, most victims of sexual assault are in some way acquainted with their assailant. "  If true, this undercuts the 66 Precinct's downplaying of rapes there as "acquaintance rape."