Police-sponsored posters that show a drunk woman sprawled on the ground, ravaged in post-rape misery, have outraged charity groups and forced an apology from the bumbling authorities behind the ill-conceived campaign.
Cops in West Mercia, England, had to apologize after anti-rape charity groups blasted them for, in effect, suggesting that women who drink to excess leave themselves vulnerable to attack.
Jocelyn Anderson of the Worcestershire Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre told the BBC that the cops badly missed the mark with their Safe Night Out posters:
“It’s not alcohol that causes rape, although it’s a vulnerability factor, it’s rapists that cause rape.”
A good point. One still apparently lost on the cops, even in the midst of their apology:
Det Supt Ivan Powell said: “… I understand there have been some concerns about the nature of the poster but I would stress what we are trying to do here is putting information out showing potential victims how to avoid becoming vulnerable.”