Carbondale Police responded to a report of a sexual assault by an unknown assailant on the evening of Nov. 2 near the Rio Grande Trail.
In the following days, word of the attack spread on social media, with many community members expressing concern for their safety and demanding more details from the police department.
However, law enforcement doesn’t typically share information with the public about sexual assault cases. In that vacuum, misinformation and police criticism thrived.
Chief of Police Kirk Wilson held a public meeting two days later, on Nov. 4, to address concerns and share verifiable information about the attacker without compromising the investigation. Wilson has also published several press releases in recent weeks to follow up on the status of the case and address inaccurate rumors. However, anxiety about an ongoing threat has persisted.
Shannon Meyer, the executive director of the nonprofit Response, serves survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. She spoke with Halle Zander about how law enforcement, and the community at large, can best serve survivors.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Halle Zander: From a victim-centered perspective, what would you say should be best practice for police departments in cases like this when it comes to communicating with the public?
Shannon Meyer: This type of case, while terrifying, is on the relatively rare side. Of sexual violence, 85% of sexual violence occurs by someone who's known to the survivor. So I think that this 15% that are stranger-enacted acts of violence are particularly scary for people because it feels like it could happen to anyone.
You have to imagine (that) it's a small town. There's an attack. There's only so much that can be done in that moment, but there was not the fear that this person, the suspect, was going to go on enacting other sexual violence in the neighborhood. At that time, there was not an immediate concern for the safety of the neighbors. So the focus aptly went to the survivor and what they needed in that moment, as well as protecting what became an ongoing investigation, protecting any evidence that might be in place.
Zander: And something I noticed in the meeting on Nov. 4 was that people were kind of questioning how the police could know that this wasn't an ongoing threat. There was so much fear in the audience about public safety, about their personal safety. And a number of people just kept repeating the same questions to the police officers being like, “How do we stay safe? How do we know we can be safe here? When will we know we can be safe here again?” It speaks to how safe people have felt in Carbondale in the past, and that may be getting shattered.
What advice might you give to people who are kind of reckoning with the fact that bad things can happen here?
Meyer: Yeah, bad things happen anywhere, unfortunately. And this has been a rude awakening for our small town. People don't lock their houses. They don't lock their bikes. They leave their keys in the car, and that's a risk that you take anywhere that you live. And I think people are now reevaluating whether they want to keep taking that risk.
The question of whether and how the police knew there wasn't an ongoing threat to the community that night, I don't think had anything to do with the specific instance of the attack and more to do with that type of assault. It is not the kind of violent act that is usually repeated time after time in one location in one night, because of the risk of capture.
It's not like an active shooter situation where you would obviously want to do a Reverse 911, or some kind of notification, because there's an active threat out there.
Zander: Do you think it's fair for the community to expect detailed information about this case?
Meyer: I don't. What people need is to keep themselves safe. The police should and will share if they have verified information about the suspect that would help with their apprehension.
The community does not have a right to this person's individual story. That is hers to control, to forget about, if she wants. To speak to anybody she wants about it, if she wants.
In a sexual assault, someone has all their control taken away from them, in this case by someone unknown to them, and the most respectful thing that we can do as her community and as the police can do is to let her lead the response as it affects her. Obviously not the police investigation, but how the community reacts, what is shared about the situation. Let the survivor lead on how much is shared.
Zander: Shannon, thank you so much for being here today.
Meyer: Thank you so much for having me.
Editor’s Note: You can access resources for survivors of domestic or sexual abuse and their loved ones at Response by calling 970-925-SAFE. The support line at Advocate Safe House, which serves Garfield County, can be reached at 970-945-4439.
