Rejection of reported sexual assaults in Bankstown

Release date: 5 May, 2011

Bankstown police were fully justified in rejecting 30 of the 91 sexual assaults reported to them between October 2009 and September 2010, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

After expressing concern earlier this week about the rise in rejected sexual assaults in its recent audit of police crime statistics, the Director of the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, Dr Don Weatherburn, met today with the crime and investigations managers of the Bankstown Local Area Command.

"When preparing the audit report we believed that no clear reason had been given for rejecting a number of sexual assaults in Bankstown" he said.

"After speaking with Bankstown police and inspecting their records we realised that the reasons for rejecting the sexual assaults were located in a section of the police computer system (COPS) to which we had no access."

"We went through the reports of sexual assault that had been rejected and it became clear that there were perfectly good reasons for rejection."

"In one case, for example, investigation by police had revealed three lots of CCTV footage showing that the alleged victim of a sexual assault had never been at any of the locations where she was allegedly sexually assaulted."

"Bankstown residents should rest assured that their local police take all reports of sexual assault seriously and are not rejecting any without thorough investigation and good reason", Dr Weatherburn said.

Further enquiries: Dr Don Weatherburn 9231-9190 or 0419-494-408