O'Neill Open To Reopening Date Rape Cases After NYPD Captain's Comments On 'True Stranger Rapes'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said he is open to reopening unsolved date rape cases after a precinct commander's comments that seemed to downplay that crime.
As WCBS 880's Alex Silverman reported, O'Neill clarified repeatedly that he considers all rapes equally intolerable and equally deserving of investigation. He then said he is willing to have a dialogue with the National Organization for Women.
The organization demanded that 10 unsolved cases from last year in the 94th Precinct be reinvestigated.
"We're looking, probably, sometime in the future to have a meeting and look at all the cases," O'Neill said.
The NOW's Jay Manning is glad to hear it, but she thinks it is an institutional problem that deserves even broader response.
"We'd like to see Commissioner O'Neill go through cases citywide," Manning said.
Manning said she wants the NYPD to examine whether there is a disparity between acquaintance rape and stranger rape.
Capt. Peter Rose, of the 94th Precinct, was speaking at a community council meeting last week when he made comments drawing a distinction between "true stranger rapes" and other kinds of rape.
Rose told the crowd the bulk of the recent sex attacks in the 94th precinct were "not total abomination rapes where strangers are being dragged off the street," according to a report by DNAInfo. "If there's a true stranger rape, a random guy picks up a stranger of the street. Those are the troubling ones. That person has, like, no moral standards."
The NYPD put distance between themselves and Rose's remarks, saying in a statement last Friday "Captain Rose's comments did not properly explain the complexity of issues involved with investigating rape complaints. Every report of rape is thoroughly investigated by specially trailed detectives in the NYPD's Special Victims Unit. All complaints of rape and other types of sexual crimes are taken seriously whether they are by domestic partners, acquaintances, or strangers."
The flap prompted Rose to issue an apology on Twitter Monday.
"I deeply regret the statements I made last week about rape. I failed to communicate how I respond to reports of rape, and the actions the Department as a whole takes. My comments were not meant to minimize the seriousness of sexual assault," Rose wrote. "Every rape, whether it is perpetrated by a stranger or someone known to them is fully investigated. We make no distinction in our response. My comments suggested otherwise and for that I apologize."
