WHAT CLASSIFIES SEXUAL HARASSMENT?
Sexual Harassment is conduct that involves unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and deliberate or repeated of-offensive comments or gestures of a sexual nature when—
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(a) Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of a person’s job, pay, or career; or
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(b) Submission to or rejection of such conduct by a person is used as a basis for career or employment decisions affecting that person; or
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(c) Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creates an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment; and
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(d) Is so severe or pervasive that a reasonable person would perceive, and the complainant does perceive, the environment as hostile or offensive.
*Sexual assault and sexual harassment are not the same, although they are related to each other.
IN THE EVENT OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT:
In order to stop sexual harassment, the aggrieved is encouraged to make an informal sexual harassment complaint. Report the inappropriate behavior to your chain of command through your SHARP representative. If you are a civilian, report the behavior immediately to your supervisor, or to the Equal Employment Opportunity office.
If the behavior persists, file a formal sexual harassment complaint through your brigade SHARP representative. If you are a civilian, report the incident to your Equal Employment Opportunity office.
WHAT CLASSIFIES SEXUAL ASSAULT?
Sexual Assault is defined as intentional sexual contact characterized by the use of force, threats, intimidation, or abuse of authority or when the victim does not or cannot consent. The term includes a broad category of sexual offenses consisting of the following specific UCMJ offenses: rape, sexual assault, aggravated sexual contact, abusive sexual contact, forcible sodomy (forced oral or anal sex), or attempts to commit these offenses.
IN THE EVENT OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
1. Get to a safe place. If you are in need of urgent medical attention, call 911. If you are not injured, you still need medical assistance to protect your health.
2. Contact your local SHARP representative or call the following MDW 24/7 Sexual Assault Hotline:
- Fort Belvoir/Fort Walker at 703-740-7029
- Fort Meade: 443-845-0876
- Joint Base Myers/Henderson Hall: 703-217-9940
- Carlise Barracks Helpline: 717-245-4998
- Fort Detrick 24/7 Helpline 240-674-2802
- DoD Safe Helpline: 1-877-995-5247
- Unable to call toll-free: 202-540-5962
- Text: 55-247 (inside the U.S.)
- Text: 202-470-5546 (outside the U.S.)
3. To protect evidence, do not shower, brush your teeth, put on makeup, eat, or drink, or change clothes until advised to do so. You, or your SHARP representative may report the crime to Army or local law enforcement.
*Victims of sexual assault are encouraged to contact law enforcement. The Army has instituted avenues for reporting sexual assault in the form of Restricted and Unrestricted Reporting.
RESTRICTED SEXUAL ASSAULT REPORT:
Allows a sexual assault victim to confidentially disclose the details of their assault to specified individuals and receive medical treatment and counseling, without triggering the official investigative process. Sexual assault victims who are sexually assaulted and desire restricted reporting under this policy may only report the assault to the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC), Victim Advocate (VA), or a Healthcare Provider (HCP).
UNRESTRICTED SEXUAL ASSAULT REPORT:
Unrestricted Reporting is the military’s preferred reporting method because it provides the widest latitude to help and protect victims of sexual assault. Through the unrestricted option, details of the incident are kept confidential and are only disclosed on a need-to-know basis. An unrestricted report triggers an investigation so that offenders may be held accountable, and the safety of the victim is ensured.
CATCH A SERIAL OFFENDER (CATCH)
The Catch a Serial Offender (CATCH) Program gives victims of sexual assault making a Restricted Report an opportunity to anonymously disclose suspect information to help the Department of Defense identify repeat offenders. CATCH allows sexual assault victims (Service members and adult dependents) to discover if the suspect in their Restricted Report may have also assaulted another person (a "match" in the CATCH website), and having that knowledge, decide whether to convert their Restricted Report to Unrestricted to initiate an investigation of the serial offender suspect. For more information about the CATCH program, visit https://www.sapr.mil or contact your local SARC or VA.
Retaliation
If you believe you have experienced or witnessed retaliation in any form from a peer, supervisor or someone in your chain of command following a report of sexual assault, you can share the retaliation allegations with SAPRO using this form.
If you would like to submit a retaliation report, please report directly to the Department of Defense Inspector General (DoD IG) here.
For members of the Coast Guard who have experienced retaliation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) IG will accept retaliation complaints as falling within the scope of their responsibilities for Whistleblower protection. Coast Guard Members who have experienced retaliation can contact the DHS IG by calling 1-800-323-8603 (toll-free) or access the Allegation Form online.
Leaders across the Department of Defense (DoD) are committed to reducing and stopping sexual assault so this crime does not harm our Service members who defend our nation.
Everyone has a role to play in fighting the crime of sexual assault. The Defense Department’s overarching prevention guidance, the Prevention Plan of Action (PPoA), involves everyone at each echelon knowing their role, working collaboratively across organizations, and using data-informed actions and research-based prevention activities to eliminate sexual assault.
To effectively prevent sexual assault from happening in the first place, we are building on a decade of field experience and the latest in prevention science. Across the Department, within each Service and the National Guard, prevention efforts are working toward ensuring that:
- Leadership and a prevention workforce are appropriately trained and supported in their prevention roles;
- Infrastructure, such as prevention-specific policy, resources and data systems; are in place to foster the implementation of effective and lasting prevention efforts;
- Collaborative relationships exist within and across similarly invested organizations; and
- Implementation of prevention activities draws on a thorough understanding of the problem, comprehensive planning, and continuous evaluation
By continuing to execute this prevention approach, the Department -- which includes more than 2 million members of our armed forces -- will remain contingency-ready, mission-focused, and closely connected to strategic allies and partnerships.
MDW SHARP Prevention Specialist: 571-609-0065
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