State of Ohio does not require annual sexual assault training for police officers

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes in the United States. It’s also one of the most difficult crimes to prosecute.

Studies show that increased police training can lead to more sexual assault convictions. 19 Investigates discovered that the state of Ohio does not require law enforcement officers to complete regular sexual assault training.

“What were you wearing when you…?” a Cleveland Heights police officer asked Alisa Alfaro after she had been raped by her neighbor and dogwalker after he broke into her apartment in the middle of the night.

“Nothing,” she replied. “I was sleeping.”

“You were naked?” the officer asked.

Alisa Alfaro’s interaction with Cleveland Heights police is just one example of why more training is needed for officers responding to sexual assaults.

“The officers, they weren’t trained,” Alfaro said. “I knew they didn’t believe me. I knew they kept referring to it as sex when it wasn’t.”

In 2017, Charles Cross broke into Alfaro’s apartment in the middle of the night and raped her. Her interaction with police right after the crime still haunts her.

“You were naked?” an officer asked Alfaro again.

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s hot.”

“No, I just have to know,” the officer said. “So, you were completely naked?”

Deputy Robin Taylor is the sexual assault investigator for the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office. She teaches victim-centered trauma-informed interviewing, a specialized approach to questioning survivors.

Deputy Taylor said officers without training can unintentionally deter sexual assault victims from reporting an already underreported crime. She said there are certain ways to ask survivors questions that could otherwise be triggering.

“I will explain why I’m asking this question because I think if people understand why you need the information, they will tell you and knowing that the reason why you’re asking that question is for the investigation, it isn’t about judging or trying to place blame somehow on the victim, it’s because you need that information to piece your case together,” Deputy Taylor said. “So, I will ask them, I’m going to ask you what you were wearing because I need to collect that article of clothing as evidence.”

Our investigation revealed that the state of Ohio does not require law enforcement officers to complete annual sexual assault training. The Geauga County Sheriff’s Office does.

“Without talking to people probably like me and other investigators that primarily investigate these crimes and we know that because if somebody doesn’t tell me the whole story right then and there, or they add on to it later, that is not a sign that they are trying to hamper the investigation,” Deputy Taylor said. “They are remembering things.”

The Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy, or OPOTA, oversees the certification and training requirements of law enforcement officers, including the 24 hours of continued professional training all officers in the state have to complete each year.

In 2022, OPOTA mandated that eight of the 24 hours had to focus on diversity and equity training. For the remaining 20 hours, officers could choose from dozens of approved CPT courses, including sexual assault investigation.

In 2023, sexual assault training was optional.

19 Investigates requested last year’s training rosters from dozens of police departments across Northeast Ohio. Twenty-one departments responded.

We found that only 33% percent of those departments had every officer complete sexual assault training in 2022.

Seven of those departments didn’t require any sexual assault training for their officers at all and only seven departments required all their officers to complete this kind of training.

“It is not easy to come forward and talk about oftentimes the most horrible things that have ever happened to you and to share that with somebody who is a stranger,” said Erika Kura, a sexual assault survivor.

It wasn’t until Erika Kura was 23 years old that she admitted to herself that she had been raped by her high school boyfriend. She said he assaulted her at least 50 times.

The Geauga County woman was diagnosed with PTSD.

Deputy Taylor said it’s not uncommon for victims to wait years before reporting.

“A lot of our victims, our survivors, don’t directly report to law enforcement, there may be a delay, and what I would say to law enforcement is you should start by believing them first,” Taylor said.

Deputy Taylor said without regular sexual assault training for officers, offenders could end up walking free.

“Perpetrators in these cases rely on law enforcement to respond negatively,” Taylor explained. “They know the barriers that victims are going to face when reporting.”

Kura tried to get help from police once during high school. In 2005, she was working at McDonald’s and an officer pulled up to the drive-through. She nervously asked for help.

“This police officer, unfortunately, decided to come into McDonald’s and start asking me questions and I just felt I couldn’t say everything because, you know, people I worked with, went to my high school as well and knew my abuser, and I was terrified that word would get back to him,” said Kura.

In 2013, she reported her rape to Chester Township police.

“I just remember, he was yawning a lot and I’m sitting over here, like, sobbing and upset and here’s this investigator yawning and at the end of the interview, he was like, well, I don’t think there’s anything I can do and he just like, sent me on my way,” Kura recalled.

Not being believed, it’s a major reason why survivors of sexual assault don’t report. Even though studies show that less than 8% of allegations are false.

Two years later, Kura tried to report her assault a third time.

“They said that there was no record of me being there in 2013,” Kura explained. “So, this investigator had never taken a formal report.”

Kura believes some of the investigators who interviewed her engaged in victim blaming.

“In my last attempt to report, I remember being asked, ‘Well, you know, most victims are upset, you know, why are you not upset?’ And I was like, ‘Because I’ve gone through this so many times. I’ve talked about my story so many times, I’ve been in therapy for years. Also, the first time I reported I was a mess, and I was viewed as not strong enough. So, what is it? Is it am, I not strong enough? Am I too strong?’” Kura said.

Two years after the West Valley City Police Department in Utah started trauma-informed interview training, their sexual assault prosecution rate tripled.

“There’s a huge focus on women, we have to protect ourselves and we have to make sure we’re always self-aware and, but I think there should be education focused on consent, and what that looks like and what that is, and what sexual assault is, and dating violence and I think that should start at home or start in school,” Deputy Taylor said.

Kura is currently in a dual master’s program at Case Western Reserve University for public health and social work. She is also getting a trauma-informed practice certificate.

She plans to use it to continue to advocate for sexual assault survivors and to work to reduce the number of perpetrators through education.

“If you’re treated as a criminal if you’re questioned, if you’re just outright treated poorly, like why would someone keep going through that process,” Kura said.

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