The first police officer arriving at the location of a reported sexual assault must ascertain the victim’s condition. If the victim is injured, the priority is to have her taken immediately to the nearest hospital. This need may create a dilemma if the nearest hospital does not have the capabilities to perform the detailed sexual assault/rape examinations that are needed to support the criminal aspects of the case. However, the primary concern must be the well-being of the victim, even if some evidence may be lost in the process of treating her. Under no circumstances should officers or investigators overlook the victim’s treatment needs. If the victim is transported to a hospital in an ambulance, the officer should accompany her to the medical facility. This may become important months later if a criminal case goes to trial, because the defense attorney could use a chain-of-custody argument. The officer should attempt to ascertain if the victim has washed or changed clothing in the time since the assault occurred. If the assault involved licking, kissing, or biting, the forensic examiner must be informed of those acts. The examiner will then be able to perform the proper examination in an attempt to make the proper recoveries.

If the victim is a child, the officer must ensure that a parent or guardian is present at the treatment facility. No person who may be a suspect should be near or have contact with the child while the examination is being performed. Because of the inability of most young victims to testify, the role of the SAFE becomes especially important. Physical evidence and medical findings are essential to subsequent testimony. The responding officer should notify the investigating officer as soon as possible so that he/she can respond to the victim.

After assessing the medical needs of the victim, with the appropriate action taken, the officer’s next area of concern should be the suspect. The officer should obtain as much information as possible from the victim, as quickly as possible, and should relay it to other law-enforcement personnel, who can begin looking for the suspect or for a vehicle if one
was taken from the victim. However, the primary officer/investigator should not conduct a detailed interview of the victim. The detailed interview should be conducted the following day or several days after the incident. The passage of time allows the victim to calm down and think about the incident in greater detail than was possible shortly after it occurred. The reactions of rape victims vary: the emotional and psychological reactions are as different as the victims. When the physical examination is completed, the officer should ask the victim to write down what she remembers as it comes to mind, in preparation for the forthcoming interview.

Many sexually assaulted victims know or are acquainted with the suspect (1,2,3). In these cases, the officer/investigator has more time to gather and disseminate a description of the suspect than when an unknown suspect is being sought.

The responding officer must ascertain from the victim where the assault took place. The victim may be found or met at a site other than where the crime occurred. In many cases, information obtained from the victim greatly assists in locating and processing the crime scene. Once the site is identified, the primary officer must ensure that the crime scene is preserved. Unlike eyewitness evidence, physical evidence located in a crime scene can never be intrinsically wrong. The evidence located and properly collected at a crime scene can make the difference between a guilty or not-guilty verdict.

In a rape or other sexual assault investigation, the victim’s body may hold evidence of the crime. Evidence must be collected from the victim with the same care, caution, and proper methodology as used at the scene. Medical personnel must be accurate in recovering physical evidence from the victim and in marking and documenting the containers, envelopes, and other packaging used to collect and protect the evidence. When the police officer or investigator receives the evidence from the medical personnel, he or she must ensure that all evidence is marked correctly and initialed by the person who collected the items. Rape evidence kits are now used in most emergency departments where sexual assault victims are examined.

During the forensic examination, if the victim is wearing the same clothing as at the time of the assault, it will be taken and submitted for analysis. Officers should arrange for replacement clothing, if possible, through family or a friend of the victim. If the assault took place in the victim’s home, the crime scene should not be disturbed to gather replacement clothing.

The officer should be trained in interviewing to elicit sensitive information from the victim, as in situations in which anal, oral, or other assaults occurred. The officer must give this information to the SAFE, so that any possible evidence may be recovered. The officer may try to ascertain whether the victim is experienced enough to know if penetration or ejaculation occurred. If possible, the officer should ask the victim when the last consensual sexual activity occurred and with whom.

The crime scene must be protected and preserved so that the evidence is not lost, moved, altered, contaminated, or destroyed. The officer responsible for protecting the scene must make certain that only persons necessary for the investigation enter the scene. A command post should be established away from the scene. The scene should have one point of entry and one exit. A crime scene log must be maintained, listing the names and assignments of those who enter the scene.

Officers must have a working knowledge of processing a crime scene: from the initial photographing or videotaping by the mobile crime lab technician, to sketching of the scene, to collection of all items known to be or thought to be evidence.

If the crime occurred at night, the scene should be processed and then reexamined in daylight hours as soon as possible. Alternate light sources should be used at the scene, such as ultraviolet lights and lasers for possible deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) samples and other evidence. If the crime scene is enclosed in a building, the points of entry and escape should be processed.

In some cases, the victim may feel that she has been the victim of a drug-facilitated sexual assault. If this type of assault is suspected, the officer should attempt to determine when it occurred and when the victim last voided her bladder. Urine provides evidence of the presence of drugs; therefore, if voiding becomes necessary, any clean empty container may be used to collect a specimen. The officer should record the date, time, and location of the collection. The officer should have the crime lab photograph and collect all possible evidence of the administration of a drug to the victim, for example, glasses (with and without residue), crystalline material, pills, vomit, excrement, cigarette butts, or napkins. If the victim states that she urinated while under the effects of the drug, efforts should be made to recover items that her urine contacted, for example, clothing, bedding, a car seat, or the ground, in an effort to identify the drug used.

If the victim and the suspect met on the Internet, the officer/investigator should contact a computer forensic investigator for assistance. The victim’s computer should be secured until the computer forensic investigator has concluded
his/her investigation for a possible connection to the suspect.

If the suspect is located, a search warrant should be obtained for any computers he has used. Those computers should be secured until the computer forensic investigator has concluded the investigation and collected any information about attempts to contact the victim’s friends or chat room associates.