A NEW online police portal allows victims of historical sexual assault report incidents online, says ACT Policing deputy chief police officer Michael Chew.

“If you would like the matter progressed police will contact you and make that happen,” said commander Chew.

“If you don’t want to be contacted and just want to report for reporting purposes that is your choice, so no further contact will be made.

“We know that it takes a lot of courage to recount traumatic experiences and we are hopeful that by making reporting online an option some people may come forward who until now were not comfortable discussing what they have been through via the traditional face to face or phone setting.”

The online reporting form, on the ACT police website for historical sexual assaults, meaning more than six months ago, will be sent directly to a police member, and will complement existing reporting avenues and enable victims to make informed decisions about their disclosure.

Commander Chew said they understand not all victims want their matters investigated further or for court proceedings to occur. The new portal will outline what level of information is required for such proceedings to happen and give victims the choice to proceed with a criminal investigation or not.

It is important to remember that any victim can report any incident of sexual assault to police, regardless of how long ago it happened, he said.

“It allows people to tell their story without the pressure of that interaction with police and reliving that experience with other people and then that would allow us to seek out the victim, if they wish, and move forward with the investigation,” he said.

“If the person just wants to report it, and that’s part of their healing process of reporting it to police and they don’t want anything else to occur from it, then that’s quite alright, we won’t be chasing them up, we’ll be recording the information and then they can take support services if they wish.

“It’s traumatic and often takes a long time for people to report sexual assaults whether they’re historical or very recent. This allows them to tell their story and then choose a course of action. The responsibility and the empowerment sits with the victims in all these cases.”

The new form is accessible on the ACT Policing website here.