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Chatham-Kent police find nearly one third of sexual assault cases improperly classified 'unfounded'

A two-month review of more than 600 sexual assault cases investigated by Chatham-Kent police found nearly one third of cases were improperly labelled "unfounded."

Chief Gary Conn said 55 of the 187 cases occurring between 2010 and 2014 should not have been identified as unfounded. To fix the problem, the police force's classification system will be "fine-tuned," the chief explained.

None of those 55 cases could have resulted in charges, if they had been categorized differently because "there was not enough evidence to support a charge."​

The review came after a call from Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale for police forces across Canada to reevaluate how they manage sex assault complaints.