The lies of a confused young woman should not be allowed to lead to a backslide toward police disbelief of victims. The Madison Police Department handled a high profile and high stress situation admirably well, backing Audrey Seiler until her story was proven false by evidence. Paired with the higher profile afforded to recent reported sexual assaults, it is a hopeful sign to those who have come to question police support of female victims. Acting Madison Police Chief Noble Wray appears to be leaps and bounds ahead of just-retired Chief Richard Williams.
Madison police do not have the best word-of-mouth reputation when it comes to responding to female victims, especially in sexual assault cases. Though with the Seiler case they have done much better, their unofficial track record is fairly poor. This time, they supported the victim until they had actual proof of her misleading statements. Others have not been so lucky, confronting a system that refused to believe them and often re-victimized them as they searched for justice.
A fairly well-publicized local story involves the case of \Patty,"" a blind woman raped in her home in the late 1990s. She was called a liar by police, lied to by them, and intimidated into withdrawing her accusation-she was told if she didn't, the police would never help her again. When she returned to her original complaint, she was actually prosecuted (charges were dismissed when physical evidence of her claims was found). She persevered against a system that was working against her, not for her. Last month her attacker was finally convicted, nearly seven years after the assault. The police have yet to apologize to her for their mistreatment, and some even sat on her rapist's side of the courtroom during the trial. (It should be noted that Capt. Cheryll Ann Maples, the other candidate to replace Williams as Police Chief, was the only officer to ever apologize to Patty and also sat behind her at trial.)
It would be nice to think that she was an exception. However, all over the country, many victims face similar stonewalls. Suburbs that want to keep their sex-crime statistics down will go out of their way to discourage victims from reporting their attack, employing similar techniques of harassment and intimidation. Their choice is baffling, to say the least, since it leaves perpetrators free to repeat their crimes and create more victims.
Because of these actions and the reputation of police they lead to, it is incredibly difficult for victims to come forward. Many women refuse to even attempt going to the police. They do not want to relive their experience simply to be disbelieved and turned away. The stigma and difficulty involved in reporting assault cases is hard enough to overcome without the fear that one false report will throw all the rest into question. The Madison Police must work hard to ensure that does not happen.
There's already been much talk of ""the girl who cried wolf"" and speculation as to whether the attack Seiler reported in February was real. Speculation, however, has no place here. Time and investigation will establish those facts, but they cannot impact future perception, by the police or the public, of the truthfulness of other victims.
Whoever takes over the police department, it seems posed to be a more supportive place for victims than in the past. Whether it is Wray or Maples, they have a lot of hope to live up to.
Jessica Rane Gartner is a senior majoring in political science. Please send all responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
