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Guelph Police to conduct internal review of sexual assault complaints

Police services across Canada doing same in light of Globe and Mail articles showing 1 in 5 complaints tagged "unfounded"
Guelph Police Stock 2016

The Guelph Police will be conducting an internal review of sexual assault incidents reported to the service over the past several years and of how the force handled those reports.

The move is one being made by police services across the country in response to an extensive investigation done by the Globe and Mail newspaper that showed that across Canada 20 per cent of sexual assault complaints to police are eventually determined to be "unfounded."

"When I read it I was disappointed as a police officer that maybe it took this article for us (policing in general) to address it," said Guelph Chief of Police Jeff DeRuyter.

"Have we kept up? How do we make meaningful change? We do need to respond," DeRuyter said.

"We're doing this because it's the right thing to do ... we owe it to the victims and we owe it to the community to make sure we are handling these cases the best possible way."

The Globe and Mail articles break the numbers down by police service, with Guelph's figures being nearly identical to those of the national average.

From 2010 to 2014 there were 809 sexual assault complaints made to the Guelph Police Service, with 161 of those complaints eventually determined to be "unfounded."

The ratio for Wellington County OPP was much higher, 34 per cent, or 88 out of 257 reported sexual assaults, were deemed "unfounded."

DeRuyter said that individual cases as well as practices and procedures will be part of the review.

He will discuss the "who" and "how" of the internal review after he has had a chance to report to the Guelph Police Services Board on Thursday.

"We have to take a qualitative look at our investigations," he said. "This is an opportunity to improve and meet the needs of our community."

Guelph Police have had a dedicated sexual assault unit since 1999.

Following the Globe and Mail reports, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police encouraged all police services to review practices around sexual assault investigations.

DeRuyter said that he was surprised by the amount the figures varied between some jurisdictions.


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Tony Saxon

About the Author: Tony Saxon

Tony Saxon has had a rich and varied 30 year career as a journalist, an award winning correspondent, columnist, reporter, feature writer and photographer.
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