The London Police Services Board has released a draft Sexual Assault Investigation Policy and is asking for public feedback from the public.

The policy is intended to help London police “with guidelines related to a survivor-centred and trauma-informed approach toward sexual assault investigations.”

It comes after startling revelations in 2017 that found too many sexual assault reports to police are deemed ‘unfounded’ and never resolved.

AnnaLise Trudell, manager of education training and research at Anova, says “Being a survivor of a sexual assault is the most disempowering moment.”

Anova, which offers shelter and counselling to women who have been victims of violence, was one of several organizations consulted for the new policy.

Police board member and Western University professor Javeed Sukhera chaired the sub-committee that prepared the draft policy.

They included interviews with sexual assault survivors.

"The experiences of any of these individuals were not to the line that we would expect and hope for. We heard very loud and clear that there needs to be more of a trauma informed-approach.”

Another key policy recommendation deals with naming the accused. In many cases police do not release a name as it could identify the survivor, but the committee recommends leaving that decision to the survivor.

Trudell believes empower the survivor falls in line with her organization’s approach.

“We try to put everything else back into their hands, and that's frankly standard practice. So the notion of having, sort of, the ability to also choose to name the person whose been accused of this aligns with that."

London police Chief John Pare says administration will just have to ensure policy changes don’t breach Ontario’s legislation.

"The legislation of the Police Services Act speaks to the authority for the chief, when they may release the identity of an accused person. So we'll have to take a closer look at the language in there."

Ultimately, no recommendation is binding, and the London Police Service administration has the final say on policy decisions.

Public feedback on the new policy is welcomed until Dec. 10.