The military lacks the historicaldata to determine the effectiveness of sexual assault programs at installations and academies, officials said, which is why they are encouraging a Baltimore congressman?s legislation to create a new military sexual assault database.
“If a congressman called me today and asked how many occurrences of sexual assault of a service member happened at his local military installation, we couldn?t break the data out that way,” said Kaye Whitley, director of the U.S. Department of Defense?s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.
SAPRO has been collecting accurate data on sexual assault and harassment in the military per Congress? request despite a recent federal oversight report critical of the reporting, Whitley said.
But SAPRO was only formed in 2005 and has seen its reporting standards change twice.
While all four military branches have the same definition of sexual assault, some installations like the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis have higher standards of which occurrences of sexual assault to report.
“Whattrend data we have and the number of reports doesn?t tell us if a program is working,” Whitley said.
“It?s a dilemma for our civilian counterparts as well.”
Jennifer Pollitt-Hill, director of the Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault, agrees and said the current method of defining and measuring sexual assault in the United States, both civilian and military, is “pathetic.”
“The statistical representation of sexual assaults isn?t accurate, and we can?t gauge how effective we?re being,” she said.
That is why Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., has co-sponsored a bill that would create a database for the military, particularly the service academies such as the Naval Academy, as well as streamline what constitutes sexual assault.
Despite the legislation being in draft form, SAPRO has begun work on the database that could be in place within a year to start measuring such programs as the Naval Academy?s sexual assault prevention program, which looks promising, Whitley said.
Capt. Ricks Polk, the academy?s sexual assault response coordinator, said Tuesday that a conference next week among his counterparts at other service academies may help unify reporting standards.
Whitley said the military database could serve as a model for the civilian world.
Pollitt-Hill said while this approach may be harder to implement because of the numerous police agencies, such a database could assist the many military personnel in Maryland living off the installations.
“That would give us a better idea of what we?re dealing with and how it works,” Pollitt-Hill said.
“Right now, it?s a shot in the dark.”
