Tune Aesthetics to Rape Victims

February 06, 2011
The Plain Dealer Editorial Board

It is time for the Cleveland Police Department to create a safe, supportive environment for rape survivors to talk with detectives.

As it now stands, victims face the extra pain and humiliation of having to tell a Justice Center police officer stationed at a security desk where they are going and why. Then they have to find their way -- alone -- to a poorly lit, dirty and worn-out office on an upper floor.

Ending such indignities was a key recommendation from a panel that reviewed the way the city's police handle sex-crimes cases.

The panel's damning 900-page report was released almost a year ago, but sex-crimes victims still must run a gantlet of misery just to talk to detectives.

At least the interview room is apparently being spruced up.

"The Sex Crimes Unit is currently being cleaned and rearranged," said an e-mail last Thursday from police spokesman Sgt. Sammy Morris. However, Morris said he couldn't accommodate an editorial writer's request to look at it or the interim interview facilities.

Rape is a disturbingly underreported crime. To reverse that trend, the justice system must go out of its way to make survivors feel welcome and empowered.

That requires innovative and creative strategies.

The long-anticipated Family Justice Center, envisioned as a one-stop gathering place in Cuyahoga County where survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault could find needed services -- and talk to lawyers, counselors and prosecutors in the same place -- is still on the drawing board. Because of budget constraints, a location and funding sources remain a topic of discussion.

Although the concept is "laudable," Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason wrote in an e-mail, "the one-time capital cost of $1.7 million and the annual cost of $974,000 are prohibitive in the current economic climate."

But finding a safe space for victims need not cost hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars, especially if agencies work together imaginatively and start small.

Our suggestion: Begin with the current, urgent need to create a more accessible and attractive space for victims to meet with detectives. Use the spacious and well-appointed offices of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, across from the Cleveland Public Library, on an interim basis -- until the sex crimes unit gets its face-lift.

Here's another: Have a detective from the unit meet the victim in the lobby of the Justice Center and escort that person upstairs.

It wouldn't be just a courtesy. It would be a mark of professionalism that speaks to an empathetic and caring criminal justice system.

After the remains of 11 women were found in and around an Imperial Avenue home in late 2009, Mayor Jackson appointed a special commission to recommend improvements in how the police handle sex-crime and missing-persons investigations. Baby steps are being taken toward positive systemic change, such as having an advocate from the Rape Crisis Center work with sex-crimes detectives.

But more needs to be done.