Minnesota police board stresses sex assault response in police training

People preparing to serve in Minnesota law enforcement will face new expectations about how to approach cases of suspected sexual assault after a regulatory board voted Thursday to revise training guidelines.

The Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training adopted changes to education programs for people in pursuit of their first law enforcement license. Once implemented, the curriculum changes will be reflected in questions that are part of a licensing exam.

Going forward, there will be a new emphasis on recognizing symptoms of trauma that sexual assault victims can experience, including signs of shock or inability to recount everything that happened in chronological order. The objectives also will cover ways to take special care of suspected victims and connect them with services they might need.

“Listen with empathy and without judgment,” one portion of the guidelines reads.

“Assure victims the assault was not their fault, they are not to blame and have nothing to be ashamed of,” says another.

Other portions of the new guidelines deal more with matters of evidence. There are 10 new categories that replace eight that had been in place.

The board’s executive director Nate Gove said the intent isn’t to turn all officers into full-fledged sexual assault investigators, but to give more a basic grasp of techniques.

“Because what that initial responding officer does can have a lot of impact on how the investigation will go,” Gove said.

Gove stressed the importance of exposing up-and-coming officers to victim-centered response strategies.

“So that these aren’t foreign concepts to them about trauma-informed interviewing techniques: Why victims who have been traumatized may not keep things chronological, might not remember certain details,” he said.

Between 400 and 500 new peace officers are licensed every year in Minnesota, Gove said.

The Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault praised the move as a good first step.

Johnanna Ganz, who is the coalition’s Sexual Violence Justice Institute director, said how victims feel treated when they first decide to come forward can determine how they’ll cope.

“If they experience a negative response or they see questioning on someone’s face or even if the questions themselves seem like they are not believing that victim survivor, they will often discontinue any further help-seeking behaviors,” Ganz said.

Ganz said the group was consulted by the POST Board in writing the new objectives, a process that began in January. She said organizations like hers will keep working to expand training to more levels of law enforcement.

“Having that greater competency to respond to sexual violence will only further increase trust in the system,” she said.