Greater Sudbury Police have invited the media to attend a press conference this morning at the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre where the work of the Sexual Assault Review Team will be discussed.
The press conference starts at 10:30 a.m.
Police haven’t offered much information this morning on the reason for the press conference, though it seems to be related to a story from The Globe & Mail that broke last winter. The “Unfounded” investigative series by reporter Robyn Doolittle found police services across the country dismissed a higher than expected rate of sexual assault as baseless or, as the title of the series suggests, unfounded.
As part of that investigation, Greater Sudbury was found to have dismissed more cases — at 33 per cent, nearly twice the national rate of 19.39 per cent — than the Canadian average.
When the story broke back in February, Police Chief Paul Pedersen vowed the service would conduct a review of all 400 cases that were dismissed.
"It certainly had us sit up and take notice,” Pedersen said of Sudbury’s unfounded rate. “We're going to go through an entire review of almost 400 cases, look at what we need to do differently, what can be done differently, and if there are funds on a provincial level to help deal with some of the some inconsistencies that I know we'll see across the province."
Check back with Sudbury.com later today for more on this story.
