On September 27, 2015, Buzzfeed News published a horrifying article about the gross misconduct of the Prince William County police when they told 19-year-old Lara McLeod to report her rape - and then, just two days later, abruptly decided to arrest her.

Although Prince William’s current Chief of Police Steve Hudson admits that Lara should not have been charged, he denies that there was anything “technically improper” about the investigation. This, despite the fact the detectives handed over video evidence to her perpetrator, enabling him to alter and edit the tape!  He insists that the department’s training for rape investigations is “cutting edge.” He even saw fit to promote the two detectives responsible for this debacle.

Even after the publication of the article, the PWC Police have refused to apologize. They claimed in a statement made on Facebook that they investigated the case "internally" and without "bias and prejudice."  Clearly, their department should not be the one who conducts an investigation into their arrest of a rape victim.

It is clear that the community will not be safe unless an external organization demands that they change.  Citizens must demand justice for every other rape victim who will surely be next unless we raise our voices. 

We seek:

1) An investigation into the patterns and practices of the Prince William County PD in its handling of rape allegations, to be conducted by an independent state or federal agency such as the Attorney General's office or Department of Justice.

2) The discipline or dismissal of Detectives Cavender and Kimberly Norton;

3) Mandatory training for officers on trauma-informed sexual assault police investigations;

Studies show that intractable police bias against rape victims is the number one cause of the under-prosecution of rape in our country. In too many departments, police believe that many or most rape victims are presenting false claims. Holding the Prince Williams Police Department responsible for this horrendous failure will help to improve policing efforts everywhere by sending a message that this kind of backwards thinking is no longer acceptable.

Please sign to hold police accountable for how they treat rape survivors. We can never let this happen again.