When a survivor of sexual assault contacts a Story County SART agency to activate SART, a three-person team is dispatched. This team consists of a sexual assault nurse examiner, an advocate, and a law enforcement officer. The nurse, advocate, and officer explain their roles on the team and what services they are able to provide. Survivors themselves decide which resources they want to use and can decline to meet with any professionals. In a sexual assault, choice was taken away from the person sexually assaulted. SART wants to give that choice back to survivors and will respect any decisions made by a survivor.

Understandably, many survivors are not ready to make a decision about pursing criminal charges immediately after a sexual assault. In Iowa a survivor has ten years to decide if she/he wants to pursue a criminal case (or ten years after one’s 18th birthday if the assault took place prior to the survivor turning 18). Physical evidence, however, is lost quickly after a sexual assault and typically cannot be recovered after 72 hours. Survivors can choose to have an evidence collection kit taken immediately after an assault to preserve valuable evidence and can decide later how they wish to proceed.

Online Reporting
You have the option to report a sexual assault online. The information requested in the report helps us track cases in our community. The report may also help expand your options in the future, particularly if you later decide to pursue criminal charges. The information you provide will be kept confidential.

FILE AN ONLINE REPORT

Call 29-ALERT (292-5378) to speak with an ACCESS volunteer about your options.

Call 296-6397 to immediately activate Story County SART