New Orleans SVU Says Sexually Assaulted 2-Year-Old Doesn’t ‘Warrant A Criminal Investigation’
The reports of five detectives in the New Orleans Police Department special victims unit are being investigated after claims that the detectives are allegedly responsible for not pursuing investigations on over 1100 sex crime-related calls. One of those calls involves a two-year-old who was brought to an emergency room after an alleged sexual assault. You’re probably going to want to set your computer on fire after you read this.
The 2-year-old was brought to a hospital emergency room after an alleged sexual assault. Tests showed that the toddler had a sexually transmitted disease. One of the five detectives being investigated wrote in his report that the child “did not disclose any information that would warrant a criminal investigation” and closed the case. A toddler didn’t disclose information that would warrant a criminal investigation? After being brought to an emergency room and diagnosed with an STD?
From CNN:
The findings indicate “there was no effective supervision of these five detectives over a three-year period. Nor could there have been any effective supervision of the supervisors, or any review of the outcome of the cases assigned to these five detectives.”
The Public Integrity Bureau identified 1,290 sex crime-related calls assigned to the five detectives and determined that in only 179 instances — 13.9% — did the detectives file “supplemental reports documenting any additional investigative efforts beyond the initial report; these 179 supplemental reports were the total written investigative product of the five detectives for sex crime-related calls for service for three years.”
Five detectives in a nine-member SUV unit were completely dropping the ball on making any sort of additional investigative efforts on sex crimes. 13.9% of reports. As if sex crimes weren’t already hard enough to prosecute — these detectives were extinguishing any hope that victims would get justice. Why? What kind of monster can see a 2-year-old in an emergency room with an STD and not feel compelled to investigate further. How can something like, “did not disclose any information that would warrant a criminal investigation” be written about a toddler without anyone noticing?
I have no commentary — I only have questions. And a burning desire to see these detectives prosecuted for failing victims.
(photo: CNN)
