NYPD Ads Aim To Encourage Sex Crime Victims To Report

NEW YORK, NY — The NYPD is encouraging sex crime victims to report what happens to them as it faces criticism over how it handles those cases. The department started running advertisements Monday that say bringing notoriously underreported sexual assaults to the police could "bring the perpetrator to justice."

"For four years we have encourage(d) survivors of sexual assaults to reach out to us," Police Commissioner James O'Neill said in a statement. "This campaign is our latest step in that effort and will reach millions of New Yorkers with that message."

The ad campaign, titled "The Call Is Yours," includes spots that will appear on broadcast and social media and in subways, buses and taxis, the NYPD said. The ads, set to run throughout the spring, have been viewed more than 400,000 times on social media in just the first week, officials said.

Rape and sexual assault are among the least frequently reported crimes. Only 23 percent of victims of those crimes went to police in 2016, accoriding to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics.

In addition to potentially locking up the perpetrator, reporting can help stop future sexual assaults and connect the survivor with resources, the NYPD's ads say. They encourage New Yorkers to call 911 or the NYPD's Special Victims Division hotline — 212-267-7273 — to tell police about sex crimes.

The campaign comes as the NYPD faces scrutiny over how it handles sex crimes and staffs the Special Victims Division, which is responsible for investigating many of them. Two City Council committees plan to probe the issue at a joint hearing Monday.

In a news release, the NYPD said a "stigma of shame and fear" often discourages survivors from reporting what happened to them. But advocates have said many survivors feel they have to prove they're not lying when they bring their cases to the NYPD.

A Department of Investigation report last week found police brass have left the Special Victims Division understaffed for years despite internal warnings, and that the division prioritizes so-called stranger rapes over cases in which the victim knows the perpetrator.

Some advocacy groups praised the Police Department's ad campaign as a reminder that cops and others stand ready to help survivors through the trauma of sexual assault.

"The campaign sends a strong message that the NYPD is ready and willing to assist," Mary Haviland, the executive director of the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault, said in a statement. "Know that there is a community of service providers that stands with them, committed to reducing the harm of sexual violence and striving to prevent it in the future."

The NYPD has heard concerns from advocates directly and added 20 investigators to the Special Victims Division's adult sex crime units, O'Neill said Wednesday.

O'Neill has said the NYPD's incoming chief of detectives will review the Special Victims Division's leadership and operations following a New York Daily News report this week that its commander, Deputy Chief Michael Osgood, donated to President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign after the then-candidate bragged about sexually assaulting women on a leaked recording.

Chief Dermot Shea, the NYPD's chief of crime control strategies, was named to the chief of detectives job Friday. He will take over on April 16 as current Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce retires.

(Lead image: The NYPD's "The Call Is Yours" ad campaign launched on April 2. Image and video courtesy of the NYPD)