Editor, Daily Nexus,

I am writing to express my extreme concern for a comment made by UCPD Sgt. Mark Signa in the “Student Faces Sexual Assault Charges” article (Daily Nexus, Feb. 9). In reference to the victim of the sexual assault, he was quoted saying that “the victim was not injured as a result of her assault.” Is the officer unaware that sexual assaults scar victims emotionally and psychologically for the rest of their lives? This woman has experienced one of the most horrendous acts possible – to be made to feel helpless, powerless, degraded, violated, worthless and objectified – and has had the experience of sex – a consensual, pleasurable act – turned into an experience of extreme violence and violation, a process that might never be undone. This officer’s comment was especially disturbing in relation to another of his comments – that the male victim, the female victim’s boyfriend, was “seriously injured” as a result of a physical assault. I ask that the police on this campus, a campus where hundreds of women are sexually assaulted every year, be more sensitive to the many injuries that students incur. Bruises may not always be visible and those who have sworn to protect perhaps should be the most conscious of this.