Pentagon to track sexual assault responses

[The Straight Story]

Pentagon to track sexual assault responses



The confidential reporting process will allow alleged victims to have the option of reporting an incident to designated individuals without automatically triggering an investigation. Leaders at military installations would have access to the data only if a victim chose to fully report the incident and go ahead with an investigation.

By Daniel Pulliam
[e-mail]

The Defense Department is implementing a data management system for tracking instances in which supplies for administering health care or collecting evidence following suspected sexual assaults were inadequate.

The system will not store an alleged victim's health information, and personal identifying data will be available only to sexual assault response coordinators, Pentagon officials said. It is intended to be a management tool for response coordinators and is expected to be up and running in July.

...

It will be unusual in the military in that, because of a confidentiality policy implemented in June 2005, base commanders will not necessarily be able to "reach down from on high" and access the information it contains, said Roger Kaplan, spokesman for the Pentagon's Joint Task Force on Sexual Assault Prevention and Response.

The confidential reporting process will allow alleged victims to have the option of reporting an incident to designated individuals without automatically triggering an investigation. Leaders at military installations would have access to the data only if a victim chose to fully report the incident and go ahead with an investigation.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=34070&dcn=todaysnews

Related stories at site:
# Pentagon seeks to explain rise in sexual assault reports (03/17/06)
# Opposition to Army sexual assault database grows (11/28/05)
# Army to launch database on sexual assault incidents (11/14/05)
# Confidentiality guarantee proposed for military victims of violence (09/21/05)
# Reports of sexual assaults rise in the military (05/09/05)

[Dunvegan]

1. The government has been awfuly DNA databanking happy, lately.

I'm zero comfortable with this, at the present time.

Although there are profound legitimate uses, this government has been hinting on a DNA database on all of us.

Which concerns me, considering how far biogenetic engineering has gotten.

And mostly because I have absolutely no trust in this government.

[crikkett]

2. rape is a big problem in the military.

and responses have been inadequate in the past.