Behind the numbers of this series / LJWorld.com

Archive for Sunday, March 1, 2009

J-W Staff Reports

March 1, 2009

For the past two months, the Lawrence Journal-World and 6News have been seeking to compile data to provide our audience a more accurate picture of trends related to sexual assaults in our community.

It started with a public records request to the Lawrence Police Department for five years’ worth of information detailing sexual assaults. We assured the police — in accordance with company policy — that no information would be reported that could identify victims.

We believed the data should be available under the Kansas Open Records Act.

The request was denied. The police department cited Kansas Statute 45-221, which states reports don’t have to be released if they identify the victim of a sex crime, involve a case still under prosecution or appeal, contain information on confidential investigative techniques, or are not in the public interest.

While we agreed the statute could apply to some of the reports, we maintained it would affect only a minority of them.

Meanwhile, we contacted the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, which releases an annual report of crime in Kansas, including sexual assault. The statistics are supplied annually by law enforcement agencies, including the Lawrence Police Department. The KBI immediately provided, at our request, specific data on the demographics of victims and assailants and where the assaults occurred.

Talks continued with Lawrence police, and after several weeks of e-mails, phone conversations and discussions with them and the city attorney, a compromise of sorts was struck.

For $400, we could receive the date, time and location of the offense. The location was narrowed down to the 100 block of city streets, so as not to identify the victim.

Statistics from the KBI and the Lawrence Police Department were used for this special report.