Disciplinary and Legal Options
Filing a Police Report
What Happens When I Call the Police?
If you call the University Police, you can refrain from filing a report immediately if you tell them you only want to be transferred to the sexual assault dean-on-call.
If you choose to file a report, the first responders to your call are called Beat Officers or Patrol Officers. They will either bring you to the emergency room (ER) or, if you choose, be called by the hospital when you come to the ER. The beat officers assure your safety, secure the scene of the assault, gather information that will help the will help in apprehending the assailant (description of the assailant, approximate location of the assault, time of the assault), put out an alert for apprehending the assailant, transport you to the hospital, and call the violent crimes detectives. Interviews with the beat officers will probably happen at the hospital.
The Violent Crimes Detectives will then interview you in depth in order to make a detailed, step-by-step report of the assault. This interview may be conducted at your home or in the police station, rather than the hospital. If the suspect is apprehended while you are in the ER, you may be asked to identify the suspect at an area police station. If the apprehension does not occur immediately, you may be asked to look at mug shots at a police station. If you are with a survivor's advocate at the hospital, and are asked to go to the police station immediately after, you can ask your advocate to accompany you to the police station.
If the detectives believe there are grounds for felony charges, they will call an assistant state's attorney who will conduct a felony review (that is, a decision about whether to invoke felony charges against the assailant). This applies to a criminal case (when the state, not the survivor, is the complainant). During the felony review process, the assistant state's attorney interviews both you and the accused.
You can decide whether or not you want to enter the legal process and, if you choose not to, you can discourage prosecution however the decision about whether charges will be filed rests with the state (that is, the assistant state's attorney or the police).
If felony charges are not filed and you want to file charges, you can request a "police override" from the violent crimes detectives, or the supervisor of the felony review can review the information pertaining to the case and decide how to proceed, or you can file misdemeanor charges.
