Up & Coming Weekly

6 UCW FEBRUARY 3 - 9, 2010 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM I am all for open government. Always have been and always will be. This conviction almost surely comes from my days as a radio reporter. I was a 20-something working in an era before North Carolina and many other states had enacted "sunshine" laws. This was clearly a good and much-needed change. Different states have different versions of these, of course, but the intent of all of them is to make government policies and operations transparent so that all interested citizens are able to fi nd out what they would like to know. Some of these laws work better than others, and some governmental bodies respond more willingly than others, but that is the general intent. It is within this context that I followed the public outcry and Fayetteville City Council's debate over and eventual decision to overturn the Police Department's policy regarding public disclosure of information in sexual assault cases. The police department had not been releasing information when sexual assaults occur, and council has now directed it do so. Neither the names of victims nor the exact location of the assault will be released, but non-identifying information will now be available to the public. Another aspect of my 20-something life during my reporting days was as a volunteer with the fl edgling group that was to become the Rape Crisis Volunteers of Cumberland County, or RCVCC. This was a handful of women and one or two men who saw a need in our community and tried to address it. There was no offi ce, and records were kept under our beds and in the trunks of our cars. We met in each other's home. We developed and kept a call schedule so that when a victim, usually but not always a girl or a woman, reported to local law enforcement, showed up at a local hospital, or was discovered as a victim of sexual assault, one of our little band showed up to be with her. We worked to raise awareness and sensitivity among law enforcement and medical personnel about the deeply personal and painful nature of these assaults. As we used to say in the 1970s, we've come a long way, baby, and most people do understand that sexual assault crimes are different than other crimes. Both the police department's former disclosure policy and the current one imposed by city council are acknowledgments of that. So is a property crime that occurred at our home over the holidays. An overnight guest's locked car was broken into in front of our home, and several valuable hunting guns as well as his college laptop were taken. He was angry and frustrated but he was not shamed and he did not hesitate to give his information and story to the professional Fayetteville Police offi cers who responded to our call. Victims of sexual assault often have much different reactions. When I was a volunteer with RCVCC, I felt positive about the healing of a victim who was angry that she had been assaulted in this way and who wanted to fi nd and prosecute her attacker. These women, like our young house guest, understood that what happened to them, no matter the individual circumstances, was not their fault. They understood that no one has a right to assault them and that someone should be held accountable. But there were, and are, too many victims who do not feel this way. They may feel shame over what happened to them. They may not want their families and friends to know. They may fear retribution or retaliation from other people, perhaps even from their attacker. If the rest of us are lucky, such victims may be willing to give what is called a "blind" report to law enforcement offi cers so that they know an assault has occurred, where and how, and can be on the alert for similar instances. The victim in this scenario, however, is not willing to proceed with the case or a possible prosecution. A young friend took this course when she was assaulted in her university town several years ago. If the rest of us are not lucky, the victim keeps her assault closely guarded and reports nothing for reasons of her own, often involving a fear of public disclosure. When this happens, neither law enforcement nor you and I know the assault has occurred and that there may be, as is the suspicion in the series of sexual assaults in our community in recent months, a serial rapist among us. This is why how the Fayetteville Police Department and other law enforcement agencies handle information in sexual assault cases, or are directed to handle such information, is important to all of us. Just like you, I want to know if someone dangerous is roaming our community, be he a vehicle break-in-artist or a serial rapist. The fi rst circumstance is not diffi cult, but the second is not only diffi cult but extremely personal and emotional. It remains to be seen whether Fayetteville City Council has struck the correct and safest balance between the public's right to know and the victim's privacy. MARGARET DICKSON, Contributing Writer COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com. How Open Is Too Open by MARGARET DICKSON THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET THIS WEEK WITH MARGARET ;7+1)4 ;-+=:1

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