City of Santa Cruz defends efforts to prevent and track sexual assault and domestic violence

The City of Santa Cruz is defending its efforts to prevent sexual assault and domestic violence and how it tracks related data. 

The Santa Cruz City Council’s official response to a civil grand jury report on the issue was released this week.

A sexual assault and domestic violence prevention report published by the civil grand jury in June criticizes the City of Santa Cruz for failing to provide annual reports that outline efforts to prevent sexual assault and domestic violence. The watchdog body also criticized recent city reports’ limited data on sexual assault and domestic violence trends.

The civil grand jury, a state-mandated, volunteer-led government watchdog group of 19 members, come together every year to analyze local government entities in the county. It has recently produced investigations into county jail conditions, road conditions and affordable housing. 

Of the 11 findings, the city council partially agreed with only one and disagreed completely with the rest. 

The report found that since 2016, there has been a lack of comprehensive annual reports with data on sexual assault and domestic violence, and as a result, the community is less informed and less safe. 

The council’s response said that while detailed data on sexual assault, such as age, gender and location, are not mandated, the city’s Commission for the Prevention of Violence Against Women (CPVAW) has already asked to receive detailed information on the types of crimes committed to better inform its efforts to prevent sexual assault and domestic violence. And in an effort to better inform the community, CPVAW has increased its outreach and education efforts by collaborating with other local organizations. 

The city council partially disagreed with the report’s finding that highlighting national statistics on “stranger rape” instead of breaking down local data is minimizing the dangers of sexual assault and “misleading the public into a possible false sense of security.” 

The 2023 CPVAW report includes data from the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and the Uniform Crime Report on rape, all of which is specific to the City of Santa Cruz, the council said in its response. The annual report also includes specific data on five types of sexual assault crimes committed in the city. 

The council’s response agrees that the data doesn’t distinguish whether the crimes are committed by a stranger or an acquaintance. While distinguishing the data may be useful, there is no evidence that supports whether calling out the distinction is misleading the public into a false sense of security, said the response. 

The report’s findings also suggest that the Santa Cruz Police Department’s decision to drop “stranger rape alerts” and case-by-case updates leaves the community unaware about these type of crimes. The council disagreed with the civil grand jury’s finding, and clarified that police have not made any decision to drop the alerts and that the department would still not hesitate to make the community aware of incidents on a case-by-case basis. 

The council’s response cites City of Santa Cruz ordinance No. 81-29, which established the responsibilities of the CPVAW and how it should work in tandem with Santa Cruz police. The ordinance requires SCPD to create a monthly report to document domestic violence. The police department also modified the reports to be more detailed earlier this year following requests from the CPVAW, said the council’s response. 

The council rejected five of 10 recommendations in the grand jury’s report, including a suggestion that the  City of Santa Cruz’s five-year plan prioritize sexual assault and domestic violence prevention. The council’s response said that the absence of sexual assault and domestic violence prevention in the five-year plan does not mean it’s not a priority for the city. 

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