Rape

I would like to politely disagree with parts of the post below mine. As a criminal justice student, who's taken many courses that involve both sex crimes and police behavior, I was a little offended to read that police do not take rape seriously. Both men and women police officers have been well trained to handle rapes and rape cases. While it may seem a bit insensitive to question someone immediately after something as traumatic as rape happens, it is necessary to catch whomever did this. It is really hard to gather facts after the first twenty four hours after a crime occurs has passed. While there are rape kits (and anyone who has suffered from sexual assault should NOT shower or change clothes but get help, go to the hospital and get a rape kit to help preserve evidence) and while you can give your testimony, it is best to be able to answer officer's questions and to help them catch the rapist.

Maybe there was an unfortunate experience, and I obviously can't speak for every single cop in the entire United States, but I can say that in my experience, police officers have been well trained, and taken many sensitivity courses to help themselves help a victim after a rape occurs.

Please, do NOT let one bad story discourage you from going to the police after something happens. The only way to keep whoever raped you from raping someone else is to seek out justice.

Julia Smoot