FARMINGTON – Recently released reports that sexual assault in rural areas is rising dramatically may be misleading, Franklin County sexual assault case workers say.

A release in late May from the state’s Department of Public Safety, detailing the 2002 Maine Crime Statistics, caused a flurry of concerned calls to Sexual Assault Victims Emergency Services in Farmington.

Franklin County residents were worried, said SAVES crisis responder Bonnie Lisherness, after reading that sexual assaults increased 20.3 percent in 2002, the fourth year to show an increase. According to the stats, there were 391 sexual assaults reported in 2002, compared to 325 in 2001.

Meanwhile, it was estimated that sexual assaults in rural areas, like much of Franklin County, were up 38.7 percent.

The key to those numbers, SAVES advocates stress, is while they provide an important snapshot of the issue, they represent only sexual assaults that were reported to the police.

“I don’t think sexual assaults are going up,” said David St. Laurent, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department special sexual assault investigator. “There is trust now in the system between all the people involved.”

SAVES Executive Director Janine Winn said that although cases of sexual assault in the county may be slightly increasing, the dramatic increases shown by the state’s numbers are a result of people being more confident in a fairer, more effective system.

Nationwide, less than 30 percent of all sexual assaults are reported. And, of those who come forward, two out of 10 decide not to press charges.

The reasons a victim may not disclose the assault or speak with an agency and then decide not to press charges vary, Winn said. “We get more lessons in how to recognize a counterfeit dollar bill than a counterfeit partner,” she explains, adding that reasons for staying quiet range from embarrassment to guilt, fear to denial and everything in between.

Over the last four years, Franklin County has taken a more authoritative stance on sexual assault crimes, thanks to a grant that allowed them to develop a collaborative team that has a multisystem response team to sexual assault, domestic violence and child abuse in the county, called SART or the Franklin County Sexual Assault Response Team.

Lisherness, who works hand-in-hand with St. Laurent on that team, said she believes SART’s efforts, to convict sex offenders, provide support to victims and educate the public, have paid off. That’s why more people are coming forward, she said.

In 2002, 77 females and 13 males in the county reported a total of 114 sexual assaults to SAVES’ 24-hour hot line.

But while SAVES had fewer assaults reported than six of the nine other agencies throughout the state that deal with sexual assault, they had the highest number, 1,062, of follow-up calls.

It’s these follow-up calls to keep letting the victim know they are supported and to empower them that make people feel safe reporting assaults to SAVES, Lisherness said. SAVES also has upped its outreach program in area schools, led by school-based advocate Kristin Plummer, which has led to more reports filed by school-aged victims. Around 60 percent of females and nearly 100 percent of males reported being under 18 when assaulted and the majority of those assaults occurred between the ages of 5 and 10.

From the judicial side, said Assistant District Attorney Jim Andrews, timing is crucial. “Every day the report is delayed, the case is weaker,” he said. In Franklin County in 2002, 10 assaults were reported in less than 24 hours from the time they occurred, 18 within a week and 13 within one month. Meanwhile, eight were reported between five and 10 years after the assault occurred and 19 after 10 years. Andrews and fellow Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson said reporting immediately is key to getting a conviction, mainly so that physical evidence can be collected.

Andrews guesses that 99 percent of all sexual assault cases that go to court in this county end with a conviction of some kind. That’s a success rate the county can be proud of, seeing how hard this type of case is to prove, he said.

“Sexual assault is not a spectator sport. It’s a part of a person’s life that is usually kept secret,” said Andrews, adding that it’s usually a he-said, she-said sort of case that really hinges on the credibility of the witness.

Disclosure though is important as nearly half of sex crimes are committed by repeat offenders, according to St. Laurent. Coming forward and pressing charges, Robinson said, stops future attacks and gets justice for past victims.

For more information about sexual assault in Franklin County, phone SAVES at 778-9522 or for its 24-hour hot line, (800) 871-7741.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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