The woman whose case 24 years ago inspired Toronto police to study how they handle sexual assaults and warn the public about sexual predators, says she is not satisfied with the results.
Jeffrey Griffiths, the city's auditor general, told the Toronto Police Services Board on July 22 significant progress has been made and recommendations from a report - a second follow-up on his original findings in 1999 - which still weren't addressed would be monitored until all were implemented.But Jane Doe and Beverly Bain, both professors and experts in the field of rape and sexual assault, said the latest and previous reports reflect "internal operations" of the police, not the lives of women who deal with experiences of sexual assault.There was a great deal of community input, but it was "constantly disregarded, disappeared and is in no way reflected" in the report, Doe, whose real name can't be used due to a court order, told the board Thursday, July 22.Raped in 1986, Doe successfully sued the police for negligence and a violation of her constitutional rights because they had not warned her or other women about a serial rapist in the Church and Wellesley streets area. A judge concluded the police used Doe and other women as "bait" to catch the rapist.Griffiths' original report, a year after Doe won her suit, recommended 57 changes to way the force investigated sex assaults, trained its investigators and posted information and warnings in the community.The 2004 follow-up contained a revised list of 25 recommendations, of which 19 are fully implemented while six are still a "work in progress," according to Griffiths, who has also added three new recommendations.Doe and Bain, both advisors for the original report, said some recommendations for change were not addressed, and some were never broached despite assurances they would be.Though Griffiths said his office "has been extremely critical over the years" about the way Toronto Police investigate sex assaults, he was asked why some community members still have concerns on the subject and don't agree with his conclusions.The auditor general responded his review was "done at a high level" and could not go into details of such things as the Violent Crime Linkage System, used to investigate sex assaults, or individual courses for police training, as critics from the community had done.