Coming Forward: SARC Office explains sexual assault reporting differences Published April 18, 2014 By Holly Logan-Arrington Robins Public Affairs ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- Reporting sexual assault is not as cut and dry as it may seem. Air Force instruction governs the way a victim can report sexual assault based on whether the victim is an active-duty military member, Defense Department civilian, military dependent or contractor. Jayne Bishop, Sexual Assault Victim Advocate in the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program office, also known as the SAPR, recently clarified available reporting options. "We explain in detail all reporting options," she said. "With all options, victims can expect to receive referrals for medical, mental health or spiritual care. They can also elect to use our victim advocate services." Robins has two full-time credentialed victim advocates and 36 credentialed volunteer victim advocates. "Victim Advocates are there to be a listening ear and help them with any referrals they may need," Bishop said. "They're not licensed counselors or therapists. A victim advocate may go with the victim to an OSI, Office of Special Investigation, interview or legal interview and even medical or mental health appointments. Each resource is an option, but the victim is not pressured into anything." While resources, like SAVAs, are equally available to all victims, the options for reporting aren't equally available. Unrestricted reporting is available to any base ID card holder, including active-duty military members, Guard, Reserve, DOD civilians, dependents, retirees and contractors. "With an unrestricted report, the incident is reported to OSI or local law enforcement as required by our Air Force Instruction," Bishop said. "An investigation will be started and legal action could take place. We don't investigate or determine what legal action will take place. That is totally in the hands of OSI, local law enforcement and legal." Restricted reporting however, is available only to active-duty military members, military dependents 18 years of age and older who have a military dependent ID card and military members in Title 10 status. "In restricted reporting, victims can choose referrals to medical, mental health or the chaplain," Bishop said. Victims can choose any, all or none of those things. In a restricted report there's no report made to OSI or other law enforcement, and the legal office isn't part of the process. According to AFI 36-6001, supervisors are required to report sexual assaults to OSI. "If you're a supervisor, and your subordinate discloses details of a sexual assault, then you're required to report it to OSI," Bishop said. "If a friend comes to you and the friend isn't in your chain of command, a report to OSI wouldn't be required. "However, if that person decides to report the incident, it would become an unrestricted report. This is also an example of independent reporting which is another form of unrestricted reporting," Bishop said. To protect eligible victims' right to restricted reporting, Bishop said victims should first report assaults to the SARC office, medical provider, mental health professional, or a chaplain. For more information, call 497-7272.