April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
04/13/2011- Springfield - Republican Staff Photo Mark M.Murray- YWCA of Western Massachusetts Executive Director Mary Reardon Johnson, and Springfield Police Commissioner William J. Fitchett, look over the the ribbon put on the back of Springfield Police cruisers to call attention to April as the Sexual Assault Awareness month .YWCA of Werstern Mass. provided the ribbons. SPRINGFIELD – Springfield police cruisers now bear testament to the ongoing struggle against sexual assault.
Each of the department’s 30 street cruisers now bear a magnetic “ribbon” that states “Stop Sexual Assault.”
The ribbons are part of a collaboration between Springfield police and the YWCA of Western Massachusetts that is designed to spread awareness of the prevalence of sexual assault and domestic violence.
“It causes devastating problems to the victims, untold problems,” Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet said. “I think it’s very important to report about the advocacy to the victims.”
Both Police Commissioner William J. Fitchet and Mary Reardon Johnson, executive director of the YWCA said it’s a fitting time of year to spread awareness because April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month.
Johnson said the YWCA provides services to about 1,200 sexual assault victims each year and many more cases go unreported. Statistically speaking, she said, a woman is assaulted in the United States every two minutes.
In the United States a woman has about a 15 percent chance of being sexually assaulted in her lifetime, Johnson said. For men, that number is about 5 percent, she said.
“It’s an under-reported and very serious concern,” she said.
Fitchet said instances of sexual and domestic abuse are investigated by the Department’s Special Victims Unit.
Johnson said help is not only available through the police but through the YWCA’s hotline accessed 24-hours a day, seven days a week, at (413) 733-7100.