Sexual Assault Survivors Point to Inept, Uncaring Police via Project Unbreakable

“St. Petersburg Police”, “the police”, “lady police officer”, “female SOIT (sexual offenses investigation trained) officer” and “detectives” are among those identified by survivors of sexual abuse through Project Unbreakable as being inept at best, and uncaring at worst.

The mission of Project Unbreakable is to increase awareness of the issues surrounding sexual assault and encourage the act of healing through art. Since the project’s conception in October 2011 by then nineteen year old Grace Brown, it has featured over two thousand images of sexual assault survivors holding posters with quotes from their attackers.

It’s empowering to see these individuals so wronged by others speak out, and good that they identified the lackluster police “services” rendered, but hopefully going forward, those involved with Project Unbreakable will encourage those profiled to name the complacent police employees (if known). For example, it wasn’t the “St. Petersburg Police” as an organization that took a blame-the-victim approach to the then-18 year old (notwithstanding the internal police culture) but an individual employed in that outfit.

To cast blame against an organization rather than the one who failed in their job, makes it much less likely that they will be held to task. By naming names it means that person is known, and it will likely deter similar actions from themselves or colleagues in the future.

Individuals act. Individuals are responsible.