Air Force Academy Sharply Criticized in Report for Failures Over Sexual Assault

A review of national service academies published Wednesday by the Department of Defense found that the U.S. Air Force Academy “mismanaged its sexual assault prevention and response program […] and failed to comply with the military’s victim assistance and advocacy policy” during the 2017 academic year, CNN reported.

While the report found that the U.S. Military and Naval Academies were largely in compliance with investigation and reporting protocols, it concluded that a series of mismanaged sexual assaults reported at the Air Force Academy showed “significant evidence of mismanagement and unprofessionalism.”

From the report:

Sexual assault prevention and response program mismanagement at the US Air Force Academy put it out of compliance with Department and Air Force victim assistance and advocacy policy. Given this discrepancy, the Air Force Academy is in partial compliance overall.

After changing their reporting protocols and the locations of victim assistance offices, the DOD said, the academies saw an uptick in the number of reported sexual assaults—from 86 in 2016 to 112 last year.

Disturbingly, the DOD report also noted that, even if the service academies are in total compliance with the department’s sexual assault reporting and response protocol, that doesn’t ensure an “effective” response. “Reducing the number of future sexual assault victims requires new approaches and resources above what are currently provided for response programs,”the report said.