Edmonton police to introduce online reporting for sexual assault victims

The Edmonton Police Service plans to introduce online reporting for victims of historical sexual assaults, the Edmonton Police Commission heard Thursday.

"It's not going to be for reporting crimes that are occurring right now," Staff Sgt. Christa Pennie told reporters after making a presentation to the commission.

"Those crimes still need to be reported to police and we need to come out and collect the evidence when it's fresh."

It's hoped that online reporting for historical sex assaults could prompt more victims to come forward, Pennie said.

As of yet, there's no firm date for when the service will be up and running in Edmonton.

"I'm hopeful for next year," Pennie said. "If I could do it, I'd have it start tomorrow but there's all kinds of steps that have to be put into place."

Pennie said the focus will be on helping victims report historical sex assaults — cases without physical evidence.

"It definitely will come in handy and help people who have historical files because I think some of the challenges they face is they don't want a police car coming to their house because we all know the stigma of a police car in front of our house," she said.

"I see the online reporting as allowing them that opportunity to engage us and then we engage them."

Those who do report a historical sexual assault will not be expected to do anything beyond reporting it if they choose.

"We are also looking at, 'Do you want to just report this for information at this time?'" Pennie said. "Because a lot of times people just want the information down until they make the decision of what they want to do."

Mary Jane James, executive director of the Edmonton Sexual Assault Centre thinks the new system is a good approach..

"If they choose to take it to the next level they can but if they choose not to there's no name attached so it's completely anonymous," she said.

"The percentage of people reporting to the police is very, very low so we're hoping with the introduction of this, that that rate will increase."

James is thrilled that there is a new option for victims.

"I think it's a wonderful step forward, I think it opens up yet another option for people to report," she said. "With victims of sexual violence there's often a lot of apprehension around the criminal justice system for various reasons."

The online reporting tool will be similar to others already introduced elsewhere in Canada.

"We're basing it out of the Hamilton and Windsor program that they currently have," said Pennie.

The police services in Hamilton and Windsor specify who and who shouldn't report a sexual assault online and instructions on how to do it.

Pennie believes the effort has been successful in those communities and said reaction to the idea has been positive in Edmonton.

"I've spoken to some of our community partners about it, they're quite encouraged that that's a road we're looking at going down," she said.