Following a Greenpoint NYPD captain's suggestion that acquaintance rape isn't "true" rape, the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women announced that they'll be holding a rally outside the 94th Precinct building on Tuesday.
In an interview with DNAinfo, Commanding Officer Peter Rose, head of the 94th Precinct, appeared to downplay the severity of acquaintance rapes. "Every rape should be investigated. I wish we could do more," Rose said.
"It really becomes a balancing act for the investigators. Some of them were Tinder, some of them were hookup sites, some of them were actually coworkers," Rose added. "It's not a trend that we're too worried about because out of 13, only two were true stranger rapes. If there's a true stranger rape, a random guy picks up a stranger off the street, those are the troubling ones. That person has, like, no moral standards." Huh, sounds familiar.
"These comments are outrageous," NOW-NYC president Sonia Ossorio said in a statement. "Acquaintance rape is as horrific a crime as stranger rape. That's what the law says, and that's what we expect our law enforcement officials to understand."
According to the Rape Abuse & Incest National Network, seven out of ten sexual assaults are committed by someone known to the victim.
RAINN president Scott Berkowitz told Gothamist that the NYPD should take a stand against Rose's comments and clarify that they take all rape seriously. "Rapists are often serial criminals, so someone who's preying on people they meet on Tinder, where they find they can get away with it, that just emboldens them to commit more rapes and keep following the same pattern," Berkowitz said. "So you really want the police to make it clear that they're not going to stand for that and they'll pursue people committing rape after rape."
Berkowitz added that Rose's comments were "inconsistent" with how he's seen the NYPD treat victims of sexual violence.
NOW will be protesting outside the 94th Precinct at 100 Messerole Avenue on Tuesday, January 10th at 1 p.m.
