'Happy to see chief apologize': Community activists, legal experts weigh in on London police news conference

Legal experts and community activists were closely watching the London Police Service (LPS) news conference surrounding a sexual assault investigation on Monday.

When LPS Chief Thai Truong said, "I want to extend on behalf of the London Police Service my sincerest apology to the victim and her family for the amount of time it has taken to reach this point," it perked up the ears of the executive director of the London Abused Women's Centre (LAWC).

"I was very happy to see the chief apologize for the amount of time that it took from 2018 until now for charges to be laid," said Jennifer Dunn. "That length of time isn't acceptable and I'm really glad to hear that that is recognized because we need to do better.”

Lawyer Ari Goldkind however believes that Truong may regret that apology.

"For him to apologize suggests...London police perhaps dropped the ball three, four five years ago," said Goldkind after the news conference. "If London police followed their leads had an issue in the case, and didn’t think they had reasonable grounds to lay charges, perhaps LPS chief should not have apologized for.”

Last month alone, LAWC said 63 new clients walked through their door.

"That is a significant number," said Dunn. "The amount of time it takes for women to go through the justice system or whatever system they go through, it can't be that long. So we are happy with some of the steps the police are taking so it won't happen again.”

Det. Sgt. Katherine Dann of the LPS Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section discussed some of those steps at the podium.

“One being the Victim Support Initiative," said Dann.

She explained, "It's a process in place to ensure victims are full informed about the investigative process at the start of an investigation and also that they are connected with support right away. We recently partnered to open Beacon House Child and Youth Advocacy Centre which supports child victims of sexual assault. Last year we also launched the Speak Out tool, which is an anonymous reporting application for survivors of sexual violence. So over the last few years, we've taken a number of steps to improve our response to sexual violence, and we continue to do so.”

The alleged victim in the case fully participated from 2018 until present. The case was reopened in July 2022 when new evidence was gathered which wasn't brought forward in 2019 when the probe was initially dropped.

"I think they are recognizing that something wrong was done to her and they believe her," said Melanie Randall, a Western University law professor who has been following the case closely. "That's incredibly important because one of the problems with our society, and one of the problems with police is there is often a sense of skepticism, or disbelief of a women's account of sexual violence.”

Katreena Scott, the director of the Centre for Research and Education on Violence against Women and Children, appreciates the recognition by police of the amount of time it has taken, and the harm that can have.

"I think in this case, the fact that we are going forward is at last something better than not going forward," said Scott.