STATEMENT: Protect Our Defenders Responds to Sexual Battery Arrest of Air Force’s Chief Sexual Assault Prevention Officer
*** STATEMENT ***
PROTECT OUR DEFENDERS CALLS FOR REPORTING, INVESTIGATION, ADJUDICATION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT TO BE TAKEN OUT OF CHAIN OF COMMAND
Washington DC – Today it was revealed that the chief of the Air Force’s sexual assault prevention and response branch was arrested this weekend and charged with sexual battery. Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski, 41, of Arlington, Va., was arrested on Sunday morning.
Today, Protect Our Defenders President Nancy Parrish released the following statement:
“If these allegations are true this is one more example on a long list of how fundamentally broken the military justice system and culture are. The idea that the head of the Air Force’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) could be arrested for sexual assault indicates the depth of the problem. It’s outrageous.
The Department of Defense is responsible for failing to effectively govern its personnel. The problems are so long standing and pervasive that, at a minimum, they constitute gross negligence on the part of the leadership and actually reflect, albeit informal, countenancing of the violation of the rights of women in the service and of victims of assault, men and women. Congress, DoD, the Executive, and the Judiciary each have roles to play in righting this horrible situation.
The reporting, investigation and adjudication of sexual assault must be taken out of the chain of command in 2013.”
Wired: Air Force Chief of Sexual-Assault Prevention Arrested on Sexual Battery Charges
http://www.wired.com/
Stars & Stripes: Air Force sex assault prevention chief charged in sex assault
USA Today: Military sex assault monitor accused of sex assault
Huffington Post: Jeffrey Krusinski, Air Force Officer In Charge Of Sexual Assault Prevention Program, Arrested For Alleged Sexual Assault
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
Business Insider: The Air Force ‘Chief Of Sexual Assault Prevention’ Just Got Busted – For Sexual Battery
ARL Now: Air Force Officer Accused of Sexual Battery
http://www.arlnow.com/2013/05/
About Protect Our Defenders: Protect Our Defenders is a human rights organization. We seek to honor, support and give voice to the brave women and men in uniform who have been sexually assaulted while serving their country, and re-victimized by the military adjudication system – a system that often blames the victim and fails to prosecute the perpetrator. Learn more about Protect Our Defenders at www.protectourdefenders.com or on Facebook at http://facebook.com/
Protect Our Defenders partners with Attorney Susan Burke, Burke PLLC to advance lawsuits filed against the DoD and service academies for repeatedly ignoring rape, sexual assault and harassment, failing to prosecute perpetrators and retaliating against the victim.
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