Sensitivity Training for the NYPD

As many of us are well aware, there is a serial rapist on the loose in South Brooklyn—since this spring, he has succeeded in raping one woman and attacking five others.

The Wall Street Journal reports that police are telling women not to wear shorts or short skirts to avoid being assaulted. Not only is this victim-blaming, but it is false information—anyone can be raped no matter what they are wearing.

This is not the only worrying behavior from the NYPD. SafeSlope, a Brooklyn-based collective formed in response to the attacks, recently chronicled additional worrying NYPD responses, including:

• Officers following women home at night without communicating with them and showing video of the attacks to residents without warning, both practices that are frightening and triggering to sexual assault survivors.

• Only providing information about the assaults to women, which sends the message that men and gender queer people aren’t sexually assaulted – a dangerous myth – and that sexual assault prevention is a women’s issue rather than the responsibility of the entire community.

• Only providing prevention and information materials in English, which prevents non-English speaking members (Spanish, Mandarin) of the community from receiving safety tips and information they need to protect themselves.

These missteps are the latest examples of a police department that is unprepared to responsibly and effectively prevent rape and sexual assault. In just recent history, two NYPD officers were accused of rape – and convicted of official misconduct for repeatedly entering the home of a woman without cause – and another officer was apprehended while committing a sexual assault. Videos have also been circulating of police violence at the Occupy Wall Street protests, adding to public mistrust of the NYPD and its motives, tactics, and actions.

We, The Line Campaign, Change.org, Black Women’s Blue Print, Permanent Wave, Safe Slope, SlutWalk and Hollaback call on Commissioner Ray Kelly to:

• Immediately order sensitivity training—not just a one time class, but a month-long course– for all officers assigned to work on the Park Slope case, to be completed by October 15th. All officers in all 5 boroughs must be trained by Jan 1, 2012.
• Trainings must include a broad range of survivors voices, showing that not just one rape victim is the “perfect victim” and all rape cases must be taken seriously and treated with accountability.
• Male activists working to prevent violence must teach workshops showing other male officers how to be allies.
• These trainings must include survivors’ voices, professional male violence prevention advocates, and promote a clear understanding that no victim is ever at fault for their assault, using media and materials provided or approved by organizations such as The Line Campaign and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.
• There must be evaluation metrics after the program that show that officers understand victim-blaming, perpetrator behavior, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and commonly held rape myths.

It is time once and for all to prove that rape is not limited to the “bad guy in the bushes”—anyone can be a rapist, and all rapists must be held accountable no matter what the situation of the rape. No victim is responsible for a rape.