Dunn County Victim-Witness Coordinator: 2 out of 3 sexual assaults not reported

By LeAnn R. Ralph

MENOMONIE —  Who are the five most important women in your life?

Mother? Grandmother? Sister? Aunt? Girlfriend? Spouse? Friends?

Now think about the statistic that one in five women nationwide will experience a rape in her lifetime.

If sexual assault were a disease, our society would declare it an emergency and would proceed full steam ahead to find a cure, said Barbara (B.J.) Lande, Dunn County victim-witness coordinator, at the Dunn County Board’s April 20 meeting.

April is sexual assault awareness month, and Lande addressed the county board during the public comments portion of the meeting to draw attention to the problem of sexual assault.

Lande has worked with the victim-witness program for 23 years and said she has talked to thousands of victims.

Lande also asked county board supervisors and audience members to think about the children in their lives: daughters, granddaughters, nieces, the little neighbor girl next door.

For children under the age of 16, one in four will be sexually assaulted, Lande said.

The majority of the time, the person who molests a child is an adult who is known to the family, she said.

The adult “cozies” up to the child to both build trust and to seek opportunities to sexually assault that child, Lande said.

The molester works to have a “good” relationship with the child so that the child’s accusations seem made up, and the credibility of the child is called into question, she said.

Lande urged county board supervisors and audience members to “be aware of grooming behavior” that the molester uses to gain access to the child.

Since 2002, nearly 250 sexual assaults have been reported to the Dunn County District Attorney’s office, Lande said.

“I have seen the pain, the shame and the trauma,” she said.

Dunn County has been working on remodeling a section of the judicial center so the victim-witness program will have somewhere private to meet with victims and witnesses.

Lande said on the day of the county board meeting she had met with two victims, a child and an adult.

The victims do not know where to turn for help or who to trust and whether they are going to be believed, Lande said.

As victims, they believe they will be the ones on trial in a courtroom, she said.

The majority of sexual assaults, two out of every three, are not reported, Lande said.

Lande recommended watching a YouTube video called “Consent & Tea” — www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQbei5JGiT8

The video could be a useful tool for helping teenagers and young adults to more fully understand consent.

Lande also called attention to “Denim Day” on April 26, part of a sexual violence prevention and education campaign, which includes the motto, “there is no excuse and never an invitation to rape.”

Wearing denim on that day shows support for survivors of sexual assault and helps raise awareness.