One week after a study found local police can do a better job at addressing crimes against women, a University of Ottawa (U of O) student said the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) didn’t take her rape complaint seriously.
Mélodie Morin said she filed a report with OPS after attending a party on Sept. 26. Morin told CBC News she had been raped and physically assaulted at the party by a male student.
Morin said she was interviewed by a detective a week later. At that point, she said “everything seemed completely fine” with the investigation and the detective seemed to believe her.
A month later, Morin said she received a phone call from police saying her case was being closed and no charges would be laid because the man who assaulted her thought the sex was consensual.
“When the detective did call me back, she was saying stuff that wasn’t super nice,” Morin said. “There were things that she was saying that were extremely insulting, so dealing with victims is obviously something that they could improve, because it was completely inappropriate.”
After going public with her story, Morin said OPS looked at her case again and “found out that there was a bunch of things that hadn’t been explored.” OPS told her they would review the case.
Morin’s public account of her experience comes one week after the release of a U of O study that suggested less victim blaming and increased collaboration with community groups could help Ottawa police improve their response to crimes against women.
The study found only 44 per cent of women who reported a sexual assault felt the first officer and investigator believed her story, and 37 per cent found the officer was considerate of her feelings and opinions.
Twenty-two per cent of women who reported being sexually assaulted felt comfortable talking to the first officer and 44 per cent with the investigator. Only 50 per cent felt the investigator believed their story.
Charges were laid in 54 per cent of partner assault cases, but only 19 per cent of sexual assault cases. Two hundred and nineteen women participated in the study.
The study, which was done in collaboration with OPS, recommended to continuously monitor decisions to discontinue complaints as unfounded, and provide information on the progress of cases to complainants.
“This report is part of our initiative to raise awareness and to improve on our response to violence against women,” said OPS Staff Sgt. Jamie Dunlop.
Dunlop said OPS is looking to improve and “there’s a lot of good information in [the report] for us to work with.”
Erin Leigh, executive director of the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women, said the study shows there can be an “inconsistent response” from police to women who said they have been sexually assaulted.
A friend of Morin launched a petition calling for OPS to re-open the case. It has more than 1,800 supporters.
Morin said women have come to her with similar stories.
“I’ve had 20 women approach me after this telling me, ‘you know what, the exact same thing happened to me, we had proof, we had pictures, but the Ottawa police told us that, “you know what, we can’t do anything about it, because it seemed to be consensual,”’” Morin said.
“We have to stop victim blaming because it’s ridiculous,” Morin said. “This happened to a lot of women too, so obviously there’s some improvement to be done.”
