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The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
A late-night ride service is the most visible response to a yearlong wave of 30-plus sexual assaults in downtown Iowa City, but officials speaking at a forum Wednesday denied the new service would become a trap for public-intoxication and underage-drinking arrests.
Charles Green, head of the University of Iowa’s campus police, said the Nite Ride service will run from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. weekends and will take any woman from a downtown pick-up point to “any residence or apartment” within a defined area in central Iowa City.
Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine said the assaults began in August 2006, and police noticed common patterns in the attacks early on. “It’s not somebody who just stopped in town — it’s somebody who’s been in our community for at least year,” he said. There are least four perpetrators, with one man responsible for “many” of the more than 30 cases. “We worried from the beginning about copycats,” said Green, “and that’s what we’re seeing.” One man has been arrested, in in jail, and linked to at least three of the more than 30 cases.Previous night-safety programs in Iowa City have fizzled. A Safe Walk program ended last year because it was under-used, said student government vice president Carole Peterson. “It was hard to know who was walking you home,” she said, explaining the program didn’t have background checks on volunteers. “By doing this through the campus police, people will feel safer,” she said.
Audience questions from the crowd of 75 at Iowa City’s historic Englert Theater were written on cards and funneled through the forum’s moderator, County Attorney Janet Lyness. It seemed that a common concern was fear that people using the Nite Ride service, or reporting assaults, would be charged with public intoxication or underage drinking. The issue is especially hot in Iowa City this fall, as voters consider a ballot issue that would ban young adults under age 21 from bars.
Lyness says her office has a long-standing policy of not charging sexual assault victims for underage drinking or public intoxication. But Green warned that Nite Ride “is not a drunk bus.”
“One person throwing up in that van ends it for everyone, because we have to take that bus out of commission and clean up,” Green said. The program will not conduct breathalyzer or other formal tests on riders, Green said, but it reserves the right to refuse service to severely intoxicated persons. While panelists Peterson and Lyness emphasized that a victim is never to blame for sexual assault, Green said, “If people are so intoxicated to that point, you have to wonder if they’re concerned about their personal safety.” Alcohol has been involved in most cases, said Hargadine, but no victims have been charged.
Hargadine characterized the perception that Iowa City police “spend too much time working on PAULA (possession of alcohol under legal age) arrests” as inaccurate, saying, “Our primary focus is the overall safety of everyone downtown.” Hargadine recently revealed that his department had used female officers from Iowa City and other nearby jurisdictions as decoys in an attempt to catch perpetrators. “Some have been hit on, some have been asked ‘don’t you know there’s a problem, you shouldn’t be walking alone,’ but no one has been attacked,” he said. Hargadine declines to say if the tactic would be used again as Iowa City gears up for this weekend’s homecoming football game. “Are we going to do it this weekend? I’m not going to tell you.”
Hargadine, who started as Iowa City police chief just last year, implied that the progressive nature of the Iowa City community may be behind the level of outrage, which has included a petition to the city council signed by 5,000 students. “Iowa City hasn’t had to deal with this kind of repetitive crime,” he said. “It’s a matter of how we treat all people, men and women, gay and straight.”
Iowa City Council Member Amy Correia said the city was looking at a variety of measures, including improved lighting and a possible partnership with the university to expand the ride program. She also said she’s been contacted by someone wanting to start a citizen’s neighborhood patrol. Correia emphasized the importance of existing community services to women, including the Rape Victim Advocacy Program and the Domestic Violence Intervention Project. “Go to the experts who deal with this every day to see how you can get involved.”
But ultimately, Correia said, attitudes need to change to stop the assaults. “We need to create a climate where it’s not OK to degrade or demean women in any way; it’s not OK to violate someone else,” she said. “Send the message that Iowa City won’t tolerate this.”
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