Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III is to be applauded for his policy of going after "bad guys with guns" – the violent repeat offenders who commit the majority of serious crimes – as a way to reduce the incidence of homicides and nonfatal shootings in the city. In recent years those numbers have declined to their lowest level in decades, and there's little doubt Mr. Bealefeld's dogged emphasis on getting violent offenders and illegal guns off the streets is paying off.
Unfortunately, Mr. Bealefeld may inadvertently have done his officers a disservice by suggesting recently that police have failed to follow up on hundreds of reported rape cases over the years because the department was so focused on homicides. Rape is a particularly heinous crime of violence that is directed mainly against women, and citizens have every right to expect that police will take allegations of sexual assaults every bit as seriously as murders and gun-related crimes.
To his credit, Mr. Bealefeld has been extremely forthright in acknowledging his department's shortcomings regarding claims of sexual assault. After Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and City Council President Bernard C. "Jack" Young called for a thorough investigation of the department's handling of rape complaints, the commissioner announced that henceforth detectives will interview every alleged victim and that cases will no longer be dismissed as unfounded solely on the judgment of officers at the scene.
Moreover, rather than blaming the messenger for bringing bad news, Mr. Bealefeld readily conceded that the department might never even have been aware there was a problem had The Sun not reported recently that Baltimore leads the nation in the number of alleged rapes that are never followed up by police.
Reporter Justin Fenton found that more than three out of 10 rape complaints in the city are dismissed as unfounded – five times the national average – and that many women have despaired of ever getting justice because of the harsh treatment they endured at the hands of police investigators, many of whom appeared more inclined to view the women themselves as criminals, rather than as victims of a crime.
It's not as if police can't do a better job investigating rape complaints. Of all city departments affected by the recent round of budget-cutting, police and the schools have been held most harmless. Not even Mr. Bealefeld blames the department's problems with rape investigations on a shortage of manpower or resources.
The internal police investigation ordered by Mr. Bealefeld no doubt will conclude with recommendations for improving how such complaints are handled, and we are confident the commissioner will be willing to put them into practice. But it's already clear that leadership in this area will have to come from the top and that nothing less than a marked change in attitudes as well as day-to-day procedures will be needed to get the department back on the right track.
As we have noted before, rape is different from other crimes, not only because it involves a physical violation more personal than any other crime but also because it involves a social stigma that forces victims to relive the pain over and over again. Society's repugnance at this offense ought to be equaled only by police efforts to identify and punish the perpetrators.
More than half the women who told The Sun that their reports of rape or sexual abuse were dismissed by Baltimore police have asked authorities to reopen their cases. Mr. Bealefeld should honor their request even if it ultimately turns out there's not enough evidence to bring suspects to trial. The department needs to be unequivocal about showing the community – and women in particular – that any allegation of sexual assault will be taken with the upmost seriousness, and that neither rapists nor murderers can expect to get away with their crimes.