CPS says committees will review unfounded sex assault cases
Posted May 18, 2017 4:51 pm.
Last Updated May 18, 2017 4:57 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Calgary’s police department says it will give unfounded sexual assault cases to a committee for a second look.
Police say that the committee will be made up of five organizations with experience dealing with sexual assault issues, including the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre and the Alberta Ministry of Status of Women.
It says the agencies will meet with police at least three times a year to review all new, unfounded sexual assault cases to make sure the allegations were thoroughly investigated.
Private information and identities in the cases will be protected, but police say the agency representatives will have access to all other details in the files.
Police say the idea is based on an approach that was first used 17 years ago in Philadelphia.
They note the decision follows a national media investigation that determined police were closing a higher rate of sex assault cases as unfounded than academic research considered accurate.
