A Comment Worthy Of A Post

Alexis said...

As someone who was raped at 17 in western md I can tell you that all types of government officials cover up these things and pretend they don't happen. When I was taken to the hospital the first thing the "specially trained trauma nurse" said to me was that the states attorney wouldn't be happy to hear that the room had to be used...I was thinking it was because it meant someone had been assaulted... But, she continued with "it hasn't been used since last June and he's still talking about how that incident effected his career". I remember this so distinctly because I had grown up with this mans daughter and had many sleepovers in his own house and I didn't believe a word of it. Until I started talking to detectives who not only told me that since I was " basically 18" so there were no laws to help me with statutory rape in Maryland (which is NOT true!!!) And then later tried to persuade me away from allowing the nurse to take pictures of me (which she informed me that cases without pictures generally aren't taken seriously in court) because they "didn't think I'd want someone who I knew that well to see pictures of me like that". My mother at that point said he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near my case because of the relationship and it would be a major conflict of interest and both detectives at that point told me no, he would be literally looking at the pictures with a microscope... After a while of this it became very apparent where all this was going. They didn't want me to " complain " about what happened because a complaining woman means a court case and a court case means publicity. Unfortunately, many of these elected officials dont care if rapes happen- they just don't want them to become public knowledge because that could effect how people see them and trust them. Not surprisingly, a month later I got a call that all of my clothes, the samples they collected, nearly my entire rape kit, had been "misplaced". Because if you can't get the woman to quiet her voice that's the next best thing because prosecutors don't even like rape cases because of how hard they are to win- NO prosecutor is going to trial with an eighth of a rape kit. The detective acted like this was the best thing that could happen and told me he didn't think I could understand the " emotional turmoil" a court case could cause and that I could "finally start healing now"... He didn't understand why I started crying and couldn't talk until he awkwardly hung up the phone... By saying I could start healing now he suggested that I was safe, other people were safe from this man, and maybe I had gotten some type of justice. Instead, I had to withdraw from college, try to completely avoid an entire part of the county, and pray pray pray that this all hadn't just taught this man that he could get away with it so he'd do it again,and again, and again. But yet, maybe that's already what was happening. Maybe he'd already realized that these cases and their victims are generally not taken seriously and are pushed out of sight,out of mind. These officials are doing no one a favor by suppressing these stories...and this article really shows the proof of that. It says the police officer says it was a " professional job"...well with 15 victims and possibly more that didn't come forward I'm sure they've become quite efficient. The saddest part is that by not even giving some type of warning out to the public these officials are allowing these women to put themselves in dangerous situations and not even realize it. We need to open our eyes to the realities around us, no matter how dim and dark, and protect ourselves; because obviously no one else is going to.