When a New Orleans 2-year-old was determined to have a sexually transmitted disease after an emergency room visit brought on by an alleged sexual assault, it appears detectives responsible for what should have been an investigation simply swept the issue under the rug.
At the time, the as yet unidentified “detective in the case wrote in his report that the 2-year-old “did not disclose any information that would warrant a criminal investigation and closed the case.”
Sadly, that’s far from the only terribly disturbing instance discovered in an ongoing probe by the city’s Office of Inspector General.
In another alleged sex assault cited in the report, a juvenile went to an emergency room and spoke to a specialist who reported that the child gave “specific information” about sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by “a named individual who was living in the same house with the juvenile.” That person was a registered sex offender, according to the report.
Detective A wrote that the child disclosed no information about a sexual assault and closed the case “due to a lack of evidence,” the report said.
In all, the investigation may involve over a thousand cases either handled inadequately, or simply not handled at all in a travesty that allegedly went on for years within the sex crimes area of the New orleans police department.
Inspector: No sign of investigation in 1,111 New Orleans sex crime-related calls
“There were a total of 1290 cases; 840, there’s not a word, even a single word. Nothing. Nothing. There’s nothing to note.”
Because of the void of information in those 840 cases, the inspector general’s report said, investigators “could not analyze 65% of the sex crime-related calls for service assigned to the five detectives.”
Of the remaining 450 calls that were designated as rape, simple rape or indecent behavior with a juvenile, documentation suggests the five detectives followed through in less than 40%, or 179, of the cases, the report said.