More triumph of political correctness over reason: Cleveland police must now identify a suspect before they can close a rape case

The despair and decay that is Baltimore has crept west and landed on the shores of Lake Erie. And once again, a mayor, a city's sexual grievance industry, and a major U.S. daily have joined hands to insist that rape victims are being mistreated.

In once-promising Cleveland, a policy change in the way police handle rape claims could have the tragic effect of causing law enforcement to offer up innocent males just to appease the rape goddesses. The rust belt is now officially the "Rape Belt."

Cleveland police are being criticized for supposedly improperly clearing rape cases that should not have been cleared, thus giving the impression they have solved more crimes than they really have.  How do police do this dastardly thing? They sometimes clear cases before a suspect is identified, that's how.

Read that again. Let it sink in. And then try to reconcile the policy requiring that there be a suspect before a case can be closed with the news stories we report on every day in this blog -- where there are no legitimate suspects, because the rape claims are lies.

According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, in order to clear a case without an arrest -- a classification known as "exceptional clearance" -- the police are supposed meet all of the following criteria: (1) Clearly identify at least one of the offenders and know the suspect's whereabouts; (2) Have enough evidence to support an arrest, charges and prosecution; and (3) Be prevented from making an arrest by a reason outside their control.

Cleveland police policy, the Plain Dealer asserts, prohibits detectives from closing cases before suspects are identified.

Cleveland Police Deputy Chief Edward Tomba disagrees, and rightly so.  "'We have numerous cases where a suspect never gets identified, and we clean that case up,' he said. 'To me, that category of exceptional clearance, that's just the way we've done it for 30 years.'"

The next paragraph is a sterling example of a law enforcement officer speaking common sense:

"Tomba said that whether a case has been cleared or is considered open is an arbitrary semantic distinction. Cases are cleared when the investigation hits a wall, he said, but any case could be reopened if new information were to emerge within the 20-year statute of limitations."

But common sense, as always, is trumped by political correctness. According to the Plain Dealer: "The [police] policy, however, specifically states that exceptionally cleared cases are considered closed. 'I'd consider those cases cold, not necessarily closed,' Tomba said of the dozens of improperly cleared cases. 'Really, it's just words. So instead of 60 exceptional cleanups, you'd have 60 open cases? OK, but they'd still be sitting in the same place -- not being investigated.'"

So how are rape cases presently cleared in Cleveland?  The same way they are cleared everywhere that police are permitted to do their jobs unfettered by policitical correctness run amok. ". . . when it comes to clearing cases, Tomba said detectives take their cues from city prosecutors, who review the results of the investigation and determine whether there is enough evidence to move forward. If not -- and detectives say they have no further investigative leads -- the case typically is closed. One of three supervisors in the unit signs off on the decision, Tomba said. And once it's closed, detectives will revisit the investigation only if a witness comes forward with new information."

This is a recognition of reality. For the vast majority of rape cases, no one -- except the accuser and, where applicable, the accused -- can say what, if anything, happened. The policy of requiring a suspect to be identified is a manifestation of a mindset that women don't lie about rape, and that every claim represents an actual rape. That is simply far from true.

Several months ago, Mayor Frank Jackson appointed a rape panel to track promised changes to the way police investigate sexual assault.  Who do you suppose serves on the committee? After all, for every other municipal panel assembled, diversity is critical. Or, because this "rape," does this panel get a pass?

You guessed it. A white woman, Megan O'Bryan, president and chief executive of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, and two black women, serve on the Mayor's panel.  Penis-bearing humans, as a class, are unfit, unqualified, and unwanted -- because "diversity" is only important when we are seeking to insure women are represented. There is no such thing as women being "over-represented."

Ms. O'Bryan spouts the usual narraitve: "It is in the public's best interest to create a community where victims are encouraged to report, and where they are believed and supported when they do."

Here we go again. Why can't we just say it's in the community's interest for victims to be encouraged to report, and to insure that all rape accusers are treated respectfully? It is not, however, in the community's interest to automatically "believe" every rape accuser. Such a policy does a grave disservice to the presumptively innocent men and boys they accuse since, by necessity, they must be guilty if their accusers are believed.

If police are dismissing rape claims without investigating, that is wrong, by any measure. Every rape claim needs to be take seriously.  We report on case after case after case here where police recount the incredible man-hours they devote to spurious claims. But if some cases are treated cavalierly, is it any wonder? (And  I'm not condoning that.) In case after case after case that we report here, judges, law enforcement personnel, and even members of what is aptly called the "sexual grievance industry" bemoan the harm to legitimate rape victims done by rape liars. A cry of "rape" is no longer sacrosanct, and if Ms. O'Bryan wants to combat rape, she would do well to pull her head up out of the sand and attack the people who diminish the integrity of rape claims, the false rape accusers. I will not hold my breath for Ms. O'Bryan to join our fight.

But from now on in Cleveland, to appease the people who dominate the public discourse about rape, in order to close a rape case, police will need to nab a suspect -- any hapless male will do -- arrest him, force him to disrobe to have pubic hairs removed for testing, photograph his genitals, interrogate him on and off for hours and hours, and then let him go.  Don't dare apologize to him. Make him feel lucky he's being let go.
 
It is political correctness run amok.  Sadly, this strange and woefully misguided policy -- this games playing  with semantics -- could have the tragic effect of leading law enforcement to offer up innocent males just to appease the rape goddesses.