In attendance were Sara Hirst and Anne Hershbell from the Counselling Center, a member of SARP, a Forensic Nurse from the local hospital, a Detective from the Lynchburg Police Department, Assistant director of safety and security on Randolph campus Angela Greene, Dean Thorton, Ben Foster and Danielle Weaver from the DOS, Director of Safety and Security Kris Irwin, Laura Speake '16, Ashley Peisher '15, Thea Ezinga '15, Emily Fields '16, Danielle Ochoa '16 and myself.
I am writing this post because the students at Randolph need to know about their options in the town of Lynchburg. Here are some basic bullet-point facts that were given at the meeting...
SARP (434) 947-7422
— They generally respond to hospital calls, but you can ask them to meet you at school (for safety reasons, they cannot meet you at your dorm room).
— They provide advice and support groups on most sexual assault and abuse cases, regardless of how long ago you were hurt, and regardless of your sex.
— They can — if you request it — assist you with filing for a protective order against your assailant.
— They will always be called by the Forensic Nurse at the hospital when you arrive there for a Physical Evidence Recovery Kit
( http://www.rainn.org/get-information/sexual-assault-recovery/rape-kit ).
— Volunteers there are specifically concerned with your mental well-being.
Forensic Nurses 911
— First off, they are trained to be nonjudgemental. You need to feel safe when in their care.
— A Rape kit must be conducted at the hospital, in order to remove any chance of corrupting DNA — a crucial part to having your case solved.
— They are constantly on call for you, and will get to the hospital to help as soon as they can.
— They generally try to do as little questioning as possible: they don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, and the police are responsible deeper investigation. She will only ask specific questions about your body and the rape in a way that pin-points where she is most likely to collect the evidence that will help you. She will take your clothes and do a head to toe physical assessment to look for nay liquid evidence, then test you for STDs, and, for women, perform a pregnancy test and a pelvic exam.
— The evidence collected from your Physical Evidence Recovery Kit will be held for 120 days, the time which you have to open a case against your assailant, while keeping this evidence useful. The kit will not be reported in your medical records.
— Plan B is available if you have been raped within the past 72 hours.
— If no ejaculation occurs when you are assaulted, that is ok. They consider digital photographs of bruises (as long as time and date stamped), saliva, hair, skin cells (they are improving in the use of touch DNA) and witnesses as crucial evidence.
Lynchburg Police Department 911
— Detectives generally come to you after being notified by the initial — or uniformed — officer who arrives following your 911 call.
— The uniformed officer will do as little questioning as possible, leaving the detective to do more in-depth work, as they will be presiding over your investigation.
— The detective representative was very honest with us: some of the Lynchburg detectives are very skeptical when faced with sexual assault and rape. However, they will still do their best to collect evidence, because it is their job.
— Defense attorneys can make a case painful for you; regardless, you should do all that you can to get the justice you deserve.
— You will be questioned about most recent sexual contact before your rape case, as that will help to specify DNA that is found on your body and clothing.
— Computer forensics — specific concentration in cell phone data — have been found to be very useful when investigating rape cases.
— The detective said that there is no statute of limitation on felonies in Lynchburg. Unwanted touching and rape both count as rape.
Conclusion
— Do not hesitate to pick up the phone to call the members of the DOS or to call the police. Also, switchboard is automatically notified when 911 is dialed on our campus.
— Evidence and investigation will never be held idle. When one police officer is talking to you, others are investigating.
— There is a no-contact order available on campus.
— Protection orders can be requested in Lynchburg, though generally only in emergency cases
( http://www.sanzoneandbakerlaw.com/Divorce-and-Family-Law/Domestic-Violence-and-Protective-Orders.shtml ).
— The school is working on getting uniformed training for faculty, staff, Residence Assistants and Head Residents. This is especially following Campus Save
( http://campussaveact.org ).
— Dean Wallace is available to help you with academic concerns as you are going through the stress of a case.
— There are approximately 2 cameras in each residence hall, and there is a committee that may be approached when requesting more and where.
— The blue emergency boxes on campus do work. And if you perceive someone to be following you, you can keep moving after pushing one, then continue to push the buttons along your way, so that security might better find and help you.
The focus group for the sexual assault policy will be meeting this coming week, and I will see what I can report on that. I encourage you, however, to report as much as you can and ask as many questions as you like, as working together is the best way to bring about true change.
-Mandy Boucher
