Rally Calls for Police Team to Aid Rape Victims

Holding placards and chanting, about 55 women rallied outside the Long Beach City Hall Friday to protest violence against women.

Citing a rising number of rapes in the city, the group called for Police Department to establish a sexual assault response team.

“Long Beach has become a violent place to live and it’s not OK,” said Julie Dodge, executive director of the Sexual Assault Crisis Agency, a nonprofit organization that operates a rape hot line in Long Beach. She said that rapes in Long Beach climbed 38% between 1987 and 1991, exceeding national increases. A police spokesman said that the department is considering the creation of such a team. The team, sought for two years by advocacy groups, would cost the city less than $40,000 a year, Dodge said. As proposed, it would consist mainly of on-call police detectives assigned to interview alleged rape victims at hospitals.