Police Could Have To Take More Sensitivity Training On Rape Cases

BROOKLYN, NY — A new bill introduced Wednesday in the city council would require each officer to undergo sensitivity training every two years on how to better respond to rape and sexual assault cases. Brooklyn city council member Laurie Cumbo is behind the legislation, which is a response to the insensitive comments about rape made by Greenpoint NYPD commander Peter Rose in January.

Capt. Peter Rose of the 94th precinct was captured at a precinct community meeting talking about acquaintance rapes as if they were less troublesome than random stranger rapes. The comments, which were originally reported by DNAInfo, were in response to a recorded uptick in rapes in Greenpoint from 2015 to 2016:

"Every rape should be investigated. I wish we could do more," he said. "It really becomes a balancing act for the investigators. Some of them were Tinder, some of them were hookup sites, some of theme were actually coworkers. It's not a trend that we're too worried about because out of 13 [sex attacks], only two were true stranger rapes.

"If there's a true stranger rape, a random guy picks up a stranger off the street, those are the troubling ones. That person has, like, no moral standards." He continued to say that the rapes that occurred in Greenpoint in 2016 were mostly "not total-abomination rapes where strangers are being dragged off the streets."

Police Commissioner James O’Neill denounced Rose's comments and has said he would consider reopening some rape cases.

The National Organization for Women, which is behind a concerted effort to change the NYPD's ways of dealing with rape and sexual assault cases, is trying to get officers to listen more carefully to evidence and be less dismissive of survivors' accounts.

Photo via Patch