NZ Herald
April 19, 2004
Police attitudes to rape attacked
by Martin Johnston
Police attitudes to rape stymie the investigation of many women's sexual
assault complaints, a researcher says.
She said such specialists now investigated sexual abuse against children but
not adults.
Her comments follow rape or sexual assault allegations by Louise Nicholas and
several other women against police officers. The Government has appointed a
commission of inquiry to look into the allegations.
A police national headquarters spokeswoman indicated last night that the police
hierarchy were unlikely to comment on Dr
"We've got a commission of inquiry into police attitudes to rape anyway.
There's some sensitivity about what we would say," the spokeswoman said.
Dr
Some made a distinction between "real rape" and what they called
non-consensual sex. "I would argue that non-consensual sex is by
definition rape."
Dr
The latter and those raped in marriage were seen as victims of non-consensual
sex rather than of rape, she said.
"That suggests a prioritising. Rape is what people like [convicted serial
rapists] Malcolm Rewa and Joseph Thompson do. It's
what men who are animals - and some police talk of rapists as animals - do, but
it's not what the guy next door does ...
"It's a distancing mechanism. Men who really rape are seen as something
'other' than most police officers."
Some victims of rape felt that police officers, by their language and
behaviour, were endorsing "an offender's perspective more than a victim's
perspective".
She said women with intellectual disabilities or a history of psychiatric
problems who made rape complaints had particular
difficulty persuading police to believe them because they were considered
unreliable witnesses. They were also a group that was vulnerable to sexual
assault.
Dr Jordan hoped that one outcome of the commission of inquiry would be for all
police to realise that rapists could come from any background and that rape was
just as serious if the offender was married to the victim.
"The fundamental culture of the
The police had become more sympathetic to the needs of rape complainants, for
instance by waiting until the morning after to take a statement rather than
demanding one in the middle of the night.
Dr
Track
record
Of 164 rape files from 1997:
§
Police
indicated on 21 per cent that they considered the complaints genuine.
§
They
were unsure about 38 per cent.
§
33
per cent of complaints were considered false.
§
8
per cent were withdrawn by the complainants.