April 25, 2016
Abbie Stillman
[email protected]
Sexual assault is a serious crime that can happen anywhere and to anybody.
UCCS has several different ways a victim or a bystander can report a sexual assault case.
“If a person wants to make an anonymous report or not have police involvement, the two places they can go is the Counseling Center and Health Center, both of which are confidential reports,” said UCCS police lieutenant Marc Pino.
There are also non-confidential people to tell who are required to report the incident.
“Faculty and staff members are all considered mandatory reporters, and they will then report it to campus police department,” said Pino.
If a victim wants to report their crime to police personally, you can always go directly to the police department or you can call them to have them come to you.
The campus also has anonymous online reporting options with safe2tell.org and ethicspoint.com. Both pages can be found on the UCCS police website.
“That’s more for somebody thinks someone is a victim, they can report it and then we get the information and we would go out and talk to that person,” said Pino.
Pino said that at UCCS, about 50 percent of victims want to continue with the investigation and the other half prefers not to.
Victims who report a crime but do not want to pursue it at the time can still decide to change their minds.
“(Victims) have ten years to change their mind, come back and finish the investigation,” said Pino.
Knowing what your confidential options are is important, said Pino.
“Some people will report to faculty members not knowing they are mandatory reporters.”
Pino commented that the police are a good source to go to simply because they are always there.
“We can walk them through the process of getting an exam, seeking other sources that are helpful like victim advocates.”