Police to record rapes in log book

Sex offenses reported to University Police or to the department's Victim Support and Special Services office will now be recorded in the police's incident journal, according to a memo obtained by The Daily Pennsylvanian. Police Operations Director Maureen Rush confirmed this change in procedure last night, adding that public response to last week's article explaining the former sex offense logging procedures prompted the change. According to Rush, sex offenses were previously recorded in the log book, but were coded in order to protect the anonymity of the victim. "We started this procedure in response to a demand from the public to keep these matters confidential," she said. "However, now we'll start coding these as rapes because people want to know." According to Sergeant William Krulac of the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Research and Development, Penn police are required to record all crimes which are reported to the department in the log book. "They should operate similar to regular police departments," he said. "The only thing that shouldn't be in the book is the name of the victim." Title 24 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes (Education) states that campus police should develop and maintain a daily log as a public record. It also mandates that the log will include "a report of each valid complaint and all reports of crimes received by [the department] and the responses thereto." The law adds that names should not be included in the journal to ensure the anonymity of the victims. In her memo to the department, Rush acknowledged this law. "On one hand we are mandated, per the federal and state governments to report crimes occurring on property owned or operated by the University," she wrote. "On the other hand, we have a duty to protect the anonymity of our survivor/victims." It was this dual duty that prompted Rush to adopt a new recording system. Under this new system, any sexual assault reported to either a Penn police officer or to Victim Support will be classified according to the Uniform Crime Report manual as rape or some other charge. Two reports will then be filed -- one version will remain at Victim Support that has complete information including name, address and details. A second version will be sent to records, but will not include the name of the victim or any details which could identify the victim. When the information comes to the police department, "it will be entered in the appropriate section of the [incident journal]," according to the memo. Assaults which occur "at a property owned or operated by the University or in a public space within the boundaries of 30th to 43rd, Market to Baltimore," will be entered in the section of the book dedicated to crimes within Penn patrol boundaries. The location will read only "on campus." Assaults which occur "off campus" on private property, will be logged in the section of the journal entitled "outside jurisdiction." The location will read "off campus." The name of the victim and the exact location of the crime will not be recorded in the incident journal to ensure the privacy of the victim. Rush said that information which is included in the Uniform Crime Report, a yearly crime summary sent to the state and other governmental bodies, will be that which is logged in the "in jurisdiction" section of the book.