Sarnia's police chief says he's personally reviewing sexual assault cases previously listed as "unfounded."
City council passed a motion Monday asking the police service to conduct a review but Chief Phil Nelson says he's already started going through files from 2010 to 2016.
"It makes no difference what motions they've made because I have been reviewing all of these cases -- I have a stack of written notes here on each incident," says Nelson. "A lot of the controversy centers around the clearing of these investigations. At the end of the day you can't lay a charge when the facts are unfounded or someone doesn't want to proceed, then it is classified as unfounded. I have been reviewing them all and once I have finished reviewing them, I'll be able to comment more on the matter."
City council's request for a review follows a 20-month Globe and Mail investigation that looked into sexual assault complaints, dismissed as unfounded, across the country. It found that 22% of the allegations reported to the Sarnia Police Service between 2010 and 2014 were deemed unfounded. The national rate was 19%.
]Nelson says it shouldn't be political, but at the end of the day if it's found that changes have to be made regarding how incidents are reported and investigated, then so be it.
He adds, however, that the victims must be put first, ahead of statistics and politics.
