In recent years, the New York Police Department (NYPD) has come under fire for pressuring victims to downgrade the crimes they report. For example, the police have reportedly asked women to report sexual assault as simply assault, and they have told victims of sexual crimes that their cases would not stand up in court. To rectify these types of abuses, the NYPD has recently added the Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP) to put advocates for crime...
In recent years, the New York Police Department (NYPD) has come under fire for pressuring victims to downgrade the crimes they report. For example, the police have reportedly asked women to report sexual assault as simply assault, and they have told victims of sexual crimes that their cases would not stand up in court. To rectify these types of abuses, the NYPD has recently added the Crime Victim Assistance Program (CVAP) to put advocates for crime victims in police precincts across the city. This program works with an agency called Safe Horizons to provide assistance for victims' needs as soon after the crime as possible. This agency is particularly important in the aftermath of domestic abuse crimes, sexual assaults, and other sexual crimes.
You can think about what other changes you would recommend to handle police corruption. It seems important to have a monitoring agency involved to ensure the police are not asking victims to downgrade the reporting of crimes and to ensure they are not mishandling the victims of crimes, namely, sensitive sexual assault crimes. In addition, the police should receive training on how to handle the victims of sexual assault crimes, how to refer victims for help, and how to respond in a sensitive way to their experiences.
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