Sexual assault task force will focus on campus attacks

 Nicole Brazier
@NicoleBrazierTV
nbrazier@abc6.com

PROVIDENCE – In Rhode Island it’s estimated that one in 8 adult women have been sexually assaulted in their lifetime.

To raise awareness and provide better resources to victims, a new task force was announced this morning aimed at giving victims a louder voice in the community.

This initiative will focus on sexual assaults on campus at Rhode Island’s universities and colleges, following a particularly controversial year at Brown University.

“We need to start in a place of trust and I think right now there’s been a lot of trust lost in the University,” said Katie Byron – a senior at Brown who also sits on the University’s sexual assault task force. She’s working to rebuild the relationship between students and administrators after many claimed the school mishandled two reports of sexual assault on–campus.

State leaders are shedding light on the issue by forming a new task force addressing adult sexual assault cases from beginning to end.

“The Providence Police Department which to this point, had one detective assigned to sexual assault in the city will add  3 investigators to the issue surrounding sexual assault,” said Police Chief Hugh Clements.

“We are going to establish best practices like we do with children, to ensure that they get the help they need first and foremost, and throughout that process they don’t get re–victimized,” said Attorney General Peter Kilmartin.

Experts say more than 90% of sexual assault victims on college campuses don’t report the crime. State leaders are hoping this task force encourages more victims to come forward and increases awareness across the state.

“What if it were my daughter? We have to imagine that, ask that question, and work with the same urgency as we would if it were our kids who were the victim of this,” said Governor Gina Raimondo.

The task force will also look into ways the community can help, by giving special training to people who oftentimes witness sexual assault, like educators or bartenders. The first meeting is scheduled for Friday May 15.
(c) WLNE-TV 2015