The Ottawa Police Service is considering changes to the way it responds to violent crimes against women after a report revealed several women who have come forward to report alleged assaults felt they were being demeaned or blamed by investigators for the acts committed against them.
During the Nov. 4 launch of the Shine the Light on Woman Abuse campaign at city hall, Holly Johnson, a University of Ottawa criminologist, shared results from her research for which she sent out questionnaires on topics including domestic violence and sexual assault to 219 women who had previously reported assaults to Ottawa police.
The study comes in response to Ottawa Police Chief Charles Bordeleau’s January 2014 request for input on how detectives could improve their response to violent crimes against women.
Johnson says the study concludes that many women felt investigators were treating them as suspects rather than victims.
Many women said detectives didn’t believe them and were accusing them of lying, Johnson says. “All these things point to a systemic problem of police not believing women.”
The study found 57 per cent of women who reported domestic violence felt officers were not sympathetic towards their feelings and opinions. That number dropped to 37 per cent for those involved in alleged sexual assault incidents.
Jamie Dunlop, head of the Ottawa police partner assault unit, says officers recognize the justice system can be unfriendly, but he adds that it is part of the limits that come with how the legal system works.
“A woman might feel she is being blamed because we ask what she was wearing,” Dunlop says. “But that is something we need to know if we want to pick her out of a crowd in a video.”
Dunlop says his unit, following the release of the report, will consider making changes to the language used during investigations.
“There’s a legal reading we have to give that is fairly harsh in terms of warning someone about the consequences of lying to cause someone else to be charged,” Dunlop says.
“We need to find a better way to communicate that while meeting legal requirements without sending the wrong message.”
Erin Leigh, executive director of Centretown-based Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women, says explaining the reason behind questions could lessen feelings of blame.
According to Leigh, how people – including crime investigators – communicate can unintentionally portray certain attitudes. She says providing context would reduce the likelihood of leaving the impression police are judging people based on things such as their attire.
After Bordeleau made combatting violence against women a priority for Ottawa police in 2012 following the brutal deaths of several women and the closing of Nelson House, an important emergency shelter, officers began holding regular meetings with community partners, including anti-violence organizations such as OCTEVAW, to identify and solve problems that occur from the time a report of abuse is made to the time a case is finished in court.
Johnson’s report also found the majority of women reported domestic violence for protection and didn’t want any charges laid against their partners.
The main motivations in sexual assault cases were to prevent attacks on other women and to hold the perpetrator accountable.
Although statistics in the report for sexual assault didn’t surprise Dunlop, he wasn’t expecting only 23 per cent of domestic violence victims to come forward because they wanted to lay charges.
“It’s the paradox we’re facing with partner assault cases,” he says. “Ottawa has a mandatory charge program whereby police have to lay charges if there’s sufficient evidence to go to court.”
Dunlop also says it’s up to society to make sure there are enough support systems in place. “Violence against women isn’t strictly a police issue,” he says.
“If an individual’s mental health is affected by the abuse, for example, there isn’t much the police can do to help. We’re here to enforce the law,” Dunlop adds.
But Johnson says improvements are needed everywhere because of a general reluctance in society to ruin the lives of men by charging them with assault.
“The attitude seems to be a little sexual coercion by men of women is normal. It doesn’t matter the situation, or what she was wearing. We look for almost any opportunity to discredit women who come forward,” Johnson says, pointing to the example where Robin Camp, a Canadian federal judge, now faces removal from the bench for acquitting an alleged rapist and berating his victim for not keeping her knees together.