NYPD responds to captain's absurd comments about rape and Tinder
A police captain made some eyebrow-raising remarks about an increase in sexual assaults in a New York City neighborhood, according to an article published Friday.
His comments were so off-base, and they whipped up a storm of controversy so large, that the mayor's office had to respond. So did the New York Police Department.
In comments reported by local news website DNAinfo New York, NYPD's 94th precinct Capt. Peter Rose distinguished between "stranger rape" and "acquaintance rape," lumping Tinder into the latter.
"They're not total abomination rapes where strangers are being dragged off the streets ... If there's a true stranger rape, a random guy picks up a stranger off the street, those are the troubling ones. That person has, like, no moral standards," he was reported as saying.
The comments came during a 94th Precinct Community Council meeting this week. He had distinguished between "stranger rape" and other types of sexual assault at an earlier time when talking to the news outlet about 13 rape cases reported in the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn in the past year. Many of them were reportedly assaults perpetrated by people the women knew, or "acquaintance rapes."
"Some of them were Tinder, some of them were hookup sites, some of them were actually coworkers. It's not a trend that we're too worried about because out of 13 [sex attacks], only two were true stranger rapes," he told the news outlet earlier.
After Mashable contacted the NYPD about the captain's remarks, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis clarified the comments in an emailed statement.
"Every report of rape is thoroughly investigated."
"Captain Rose's comments did not properly explain the complexity of issues involved with investigating rape complaints," he said. "Every report of rape is thoroughly investigated by specially trained detectives in the NYPD’s Special Victims Unit. All complaints of rape and other types of sexual crimes are taken seriously whether they are committed by domestic partners, acquaintances, or strangers."
Davis added, "all sexual offenses are taken seriously."
After backtracking about the Tinder and other "acquaintance rape" comments, the New York City Mayor's office also released a statement Friday afternoon. Press Secretary Eric Phillips reiterated that "rape is rape."
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Although the city and police department clarified how or where sexual assault survivors meet their attackers is irrelevant, others on social media hinted that incidents stemming from dates and through online dating apps, like Tinder, are still viewed differently by some law enforcement.
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Rose's comments show a deeper crack in how police think about rape, however, Jane Manning of the National Organization for Women told DNAinfo New York.
"The idea that 'this isn't some guy who's dangerous to women,' that in itself is a major window into the mentality that we are up against," Manning said.
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Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
