| SART First Year Results |
Posted: May 13, 1999 |
Little Company of Mary Health Services�
SART) Sexual Assault Response Team Posts First Year Results (5/13/99)
SAN PEDRO, CA � The South Bay�s only Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) Center proved a major success after its first year of operation due to an unprecedented collaboration between hospital officials, forensic nurses, counselors and eight law enforcement agencies.
Nearly 70 �survivors� -- ranging from a 13-year-old girl sexually assaulted by an acquaintance in the Inglewood area to a 79-year-old woman raped by a stranger in Torrance -- have received compassionate, comprehensive and culturally-sensitive treatment at the SART Center since it opened on April 1, 1998.
Modeled after the SART Program in Long Beach, Little Company of Mary�s SART Center opened at San Pedro Peninsula Hospital last year. While the Long Beach SART Program requires the participation of only one law enforcement agency, the South Bay SART Program has received excellent collaboration from seven police departments and three sheriff�s stations.
Before Little Company of Mary's SART Center, law enforcement officers generally brought rape victims to the emergency rooms of various South Bay and Harbor area hospitals. Already traumatized by being raped, these survivors often had to wait for long periods in the emergency room while other patients whose conditions were considered more �critical� were treated first.
Under the SART program, law enforcement officers call a dedicated hotline upon the report of a sexual assault. SART professionals mobilize, and within one hour, forensic nurse specialists and counselors meet with the victim and the officer in a private room in San Pedro Peninsula Hospital.
At the SART Center, the victim provides a single statement for use by the counselor, hospital officials and the police officer. The victim also receives a comprehensive exam and treatment for physical injuries. Unlike many emergency room staff members, the nurses at the SART Center are specially trained to obtain forensic evidence that will help lead to the conviction of the rapist.
During its first year of operation, the SART Center cared for 69 rape survivors. The average age of the survivors was 28.
Fifty-one percent of the survivors were raped by an acquaintance. This percentage is low compared to national figures where three out of every four sexual assault victims is raped by an acquaintance rather than a stranger.
Officers from the Los Angeles Police Department�s Harbor Division brought 20 of the survivors to the SART Center during the first year of operation. A total of 23 survivors were brought to the SART Center by Los Angeles County Sheriff�s Department officials from the Lomita, Lennox and Carson stations. Nine survivors were brought to the SART Center by the Torrance Police Department.
Other participating police departments include Culver City, El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach.
All SART services are provided at no cost to the victim. Little Company of Mary, local law enforcement agencies and generous community donors fund SART�s operating costs. |
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