The Columbus Police Department and a crime victim have reached an agreement about a complaint that went to mediation involving allegations that officers failed to properly investigate a rape case because the victim was Hispanic and had a history of drug use.
The mediation stems from an appeal filed in July by a Columbus woman of Hispanic ethnicity who sought to challenge the findings from the Columbus Police Department following an investigation into a “customer service” complaint she had made against the department in April.
The complaint alleged, among other things, that CPD officers were reluctant to take her to Columbus Regional Hospital for a rape kit and drug screen after she told them she had been drugged and raped by an acquaintance in April, according to the complaint. The alleged reluctance of the police to take her to the hospital or offer her transfer to another hospital after it allegedly was determined that no one at the hospital was available to administer the rape kit “resulted in a lack of potentially identifying physical evidence of the crime,” the complaint stated.
“I feel that because of my outward appearance and my former drug history, associations and criminal history, the (police) department failed to take basic measures to investigate and gather evidence that would lead to a conviction of my attacker and did not afford me the same service of protection that would be given to another resident,” the complaint stated.
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According to a handwritten mediation agreement dated Sept. 10 and signed by the victim, Columbus Police Chief John Rohde and a witness, the two parties agreed to resolve the complaint and that “there is no further action that needs to be taken on this matter, and (the victim) dismisses her appeal at this time.”
City officials declined to reveal what agreement was reached between the two parties, but the complainant told The Republic that CPD officers promised to speed up how quickly they dispatch detectives to investigate rape cases.
“They said they were going to change how the whole process works for any rape case,” the victim said. “They’re in the process of changing things because it took three weeks for the detectives to come talk to me.”
The handwritten agreement was drafted by CPD officials and signed by both parties after a three-hour mediation session on Sept. 10, she said.
She said she was “somewhat” satisfied with what the police said they would do going forward.
Any individual in the city can make a complaint against the local police department, said Aida Ramirez, director of the Human Rights Commission. The complaint must be filed within 15 days of any incident in question.
The police department must investigate the complaint in a timely manner and communicate its findings to the complainant. If the individual is unsatisfied with the determination of the department, they may appeal to the Citizen Review Committee of the Community Police Review Board.
In this case, the complainant and the Columbus Police Department agreed to undergo mediation to try to resolve the issue, city officials said.
In addition to the victim’s complaint about how quickly her case was addressed, the case also raised questions about whether local officials, as well as state officials, have sufficient resources to adequately collect evidence of rape and sexual assault in a timely fashion.
The victim states in her complaint that she allegedly waited for four hours to be examined at Columbus Regional Health, but nobody was available to examine her and collect the rape kit. A physician at CRH allegedly advised her to remain at the hospital until she could be seen, but she refused, according to the complaint.
“The (CPD) officer was called to get me,” the complaint states. “The officer did not check to see if another hospital was able to complete a rape kit. The officer did not contact another agency such as Turning Point for assistance.”
Experts and law enforcement officials say rape kits, also known as sexual assault kits, are crucial tools for identifying the perpetrator of a rape or sexual assault and need to be administered as soon as possible.
A rape kit is a package of items used by specially trained medical professionals to collect DNA and other forensic evidence that can be used to identify the perpetrator of a rape or sexual assault.
However, there is a nationwide shortage of medical professionals, known as sexual assault nurse examiners, who are trained to perform these exams, according to Angie Morris, coordinator of the Indiana SANE Project, a federally funded initiative to train sexual assault nurse examiners.
“It’s fairly common, especially in Indiana,” Morris said, referring to victims not finding trained nurse examiners available in hospital emergency rooms. “…They might go to three or four hospitals to find someone with this specialized training. This definitely puts a damper on the investigative process. Victims are far more likely to cooperate if they get care.”
CRH currently has two sexual assault nurse examiners on staff who can perform these exams, but the hospital will coordinate with other facilities to ensure patients are administered a rape kit if nobody is available at CRH, said Kelsey DeClue, CRH spokeswoman.
“Once the patient is determined to be medically stable, if no SANE (sexual assault nurse examiner) staff is available to perform the exam, the patient is offered transfer to another facility that has a SANE nurse on staff,” DeClue said.
The victim’s customer service complaint, however, was filed against the Columbus Police Department, not Columbus Regional Hospital. The hospital was not a party in the mediation, Ramirez said.
At least 2,241 people in Indiana went to a hospital emergency department seeking medical attention for alleged, suspected or confirmed sexual abuse or rape in 2018 — including at least 31 at Columbus Regional Hospital — according to hospital discharge data from the Indiana State Department of Health.
The Indiana State Police’s four crime labs processed 1,456 sexual assault kits in 2018, according to Cynthia Forbes, legal counsel for the Indiana State Police.
As of Aug. 2, there was a backlog of 145 sexual assault kits at Indiana State Police crime labs, Forbes said.
