The Austin Police Department’s handling of sexual assault cases is being audited, and tonight the Public Safety Commission will ask for numbers regarding APD’s “exceptional clearance cases.” It’s a term that applies to sex assault cases in which a victim has chosen to not cooperate with an investigation.
The DPS audit will look at the overall number of exceptional clearance cases vs the cases that were actually solved. While APD’s rate of closed sexual assault cases is high, Austin’s Public Safety Commission is wanting to know how many of those were actually solved and not simply closed out because a victim backed out or would not testify, and whether the victims were given enough support by APD prior to making that decision.
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