SAPR director visits USAFA

  • Published
  • By Don Branum
  • Academy Public Affairs
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  The Air Force's director of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response visited the Air Force Academy July 7-9 to learn about the Academy's SAPR program and see what initiatives the Air Force could apply across the force.

"I have learned that the academy has phenomenal programs," said Brig. Gen. Gina Grosso during her first visit since becoming the Air Force's SAPR director in February. "How does the Air Force Academy approach this crime? What is it teaching, and when does it teach it are just a few of the things I wanted to learn so I could be a better advocate."

The Air Force Academy has the highest ratio of sexual assault reports to estimated incidents of the three military service academies, which could indicate cadets have faith in the SAPR program here, Teresa Beasley said in an interview shortly after the Defense Department SAPR Office released the 2012 Annual Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies.

The Academy's reporting numbers also include cadets who report assaults that took place before they were admitted to the Academy.

"The number of people who report they were assaulted before they came in is growing," Grosso said. "We think the reason many Airmen report an assault that occurred prior to joinging the Air Force is because they learn that it's unacceptable behavior and we have programs to take care of them if they need help."

Less than 7 percent of cadets responding to the Academy's 2012 climate survey reported that they had experienced sexual harassment. In contrast, nearly 70 percent of female cadets surveyed by the DOD Inspector General's Office in 2003 said they had been sexually harassed.

The Air Force SAPR office takes a multi-disciplinary approach, involving experts from medical, legal and law enforcement fields, to address sexual assault, Grosso said. Their effort includes taking stock of the Air Force's previous efforts, which date back to allegations in 2003 that the Academy's leaders were ignoring reports of sexual assault.

That multi-disciplinary approach, building on the Academy's accomplishments as well as expertise from other institutions, has led the Air Force to better understand how its leaders can prevent sexual assault and help victims when prevention efforts fail, Grosso said.

Stand-down days, held at the Academy and across the Air Force, reinforced the position that victims are never to be blamed for the sexual assault committed against them and aimed to help Airmen spot predatory behavior. In a video presented during the stand-down day, an actor portraying a rapist illustrates that behavior while recounting the events of a sexual assault: Feeling entitled to sex without regard to one's partner; looking for someone who might be easy prey; ignoring signals that someone is not interested in sex, or using coercion, threats or force to get what he wants.
"It's not an issue of misunderstanding consent," Grosso said. "It's an issue of an individual taking advantage of someone who's vulnerable."

Focusing on the victim's behavior in such a situation is wrong, Grosso said. The focus should be on the perpetrator.

"You're fundamentally asking the wrong questions if you ask, where were you, what were you wearing?" she said. "If you find fault in the victim, you can insulate yourself from the crime, because "you'd never do that."

"Sexual assault is the only crime where we don't have the automatic belief: The victim has to prove it happened," she added. "If you report someone broke into your house and stole your TV, the police don't blame you; they accept that your house was broken into and your TV was stolen. That's why training and education are so critical."

All of the Air Force's accession sources have sexual assault prevention and response curricula, and Airmen receive training throughout their professional military education, but there's no way to gauge its effectiveness, Grosso said.

"We haven't synced the training or assessed it," she said. "We've been working on this hard for more than a decade, but we've never done an assessment of what's working and not working."

The Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in the Military Services recommended in 2010 that the DOD should receive funding for sexual assault prevention and response research in collaboration with civilian experts. Grosso hinted that the Air Force Academy might be able to help.

"The Academy is resourced in a different way from most Air Force bases," she said.

But the most immediate contribution the Academy provides is in its lieutenants, Grosso added.

"Graduates are much better equipped to deal with this problem than they were several years ago," she said. "There are a lot of great things happening here. I appreciate that the Academy let me come out and learn."