HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — Only 60 of the more than 2,200 sexual assaults that were reported to Harris County’s largest law enforcement agencies over the span of almost two years resulted in convictions. Hundreds more remain unsolved or have yet to be investigated.
According to Harris County’s Sexual Assault Response Team, a group of criminal justice leaders and advocates whose latest report shows that from the beginning of 2022 through the end of August 2023, the Houston Police Department received 1,519 sexual assault reports, which resulted in 1,328 investigations.
During the same time period, the report indicates that the Harris County Sheriff’s Office received 712 reports, resulting in 256 investigations.
According to the report, in that nearly two-year time period, it took an average of 130 days to test rape kits at the Houston Forensic Science Center.
Officials are set to release a new report next month, which victims say they hope will lead to change.
“People don’t realize that the assault is one level,” Marlecia Price said. “That’s the start of your trauma, and it just blows up from there.”
ABC13 met Price at a park in southwest Houston.
Surrounded by other alleged victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, she told Eyewitness News about what she calls the worst experience of her life.
Court records show Price told police a man took her to a motel room and assaulted her as she tried to push him off.
Records show Price went to the hospital and was examined for rape that same day.
“I did everything that I know I’m supposed to do,” she said. “This happened to me, and now I’m coming to the system that you have put in place to hold someone accountable for their actions, and I’m asking you to help.”
Price’s report with the Houston police was taken in October 2021.
Her alleged attacker was charged with sexual assault more than a year later.
Now, four years after that initial report, she said she’s frustrated the case has been reset more than 25 times.
“How do I get the broken fragments of myself back? I can tell you walking this system does not help,” she said. “It’s almost like a hammer, and it continues to shatter. Every time the case is reset.”
Leticia Manzano has worked at the Harris County Women’s Center for 27 years, helping victims heal and seek justice.
“Everyone knows someone,” she said, “and if you say to yourself, ‘I don’t know anyone,’ you have to say to yourself, ‘Why someone has not told you this has happened to them?'”
Manzano now trains law enforcement on how to respond to sexual assault cases.
“What I often hear from law enforcement officers is that we have to hear both sides. Absolutely, absolutely,” Manzano said. “But, if in your subconscious, is there some kind of bias where you are already disbelieving? You want to hear the other side to prove that you’re right.”
According to the county’s latest statistics, the sheriff’s office currently only has one sergeant and five investigators in its adult sex crimes division.
Records show it takes approximately two years to investigate any new crimes.
“I’m a veteran, so I served this country,” Price said. “And I believe in the foundation of what it was, and I am trying to utilize a service that I defended, and it’s failing me in every facet.”
The trial against the man accused of assaulting Price started on Wednesday.
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