Alaska outlawed charging victims for their own rape-kits because of one town: WASILLA

[brentspeak]

While some of their complaints have already been aired, (Former Alaskan Governor) Knowles broke new ground while answering a reporter's question on whether Wasilla forced rape victims to pay for their own forensic tests when Palin was mayor.

True, Knowles said.

Eight years ago, complaints about charging rape victims for medical exams in Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill -- signed into law by Knowles -- that banned the practice statewide.

"There was one town in Alaska that was charging victims for this, and that was Wasilla," Knowles said

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/52266.html

Even more damning, it was Palin's own hand-picked chief of police who began the practice of charging rape victims for rape-kits:

Palin, as mayor, fired police chief Irl Stambaugh and replaced him with Charlie Fannon, who with Palin's knowledge, slashed the budget for the exams and began charging the city's victims of sexual assault. The city budget documents demonstrate Palin read and signed off on the new budget. A year later, alarmed Alaska lawmakers passed legislation outlawing the practice.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-alperinsheriff/sarah-palin-instituted-ra_b_125833.html

It gets "better" (if "better" is the word to use). When Alaska passed the law to ban the practice of billing rape victims for rape-kits, Palin-appointee Chief Fannon objected:

It also quoted Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon objecting to the law. Fannon was appointed to his position by Palin after her dismissal of the previous police chief. He said it would cost Wasilla $5,000 to $14,000 a year if the city had to foot the bill for rape exams.

"In the past we've charged the cost of exams to the victims' insurance company when possible," Fannon told the newspaper. "I just don't want to see any more burden put on the taxpayer."

An effort to reach Fannon by phone Wednesday was not successful.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/52266.html

[City Lights]

1. K&R

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. Absolute slime.

[WinkyDink]

3. Would that "Charlie" had asked Miss Sarah about this.

[d_b]

4. Go Tony!

He can expose her ass like no one else.

[Az]

5. Good grief this lady just keeps on giving

I mean how bad of a pick can one human being be? I mean really? What a slime ball... I am coming to agree with the diagnosis of her being a sociopath(psychopath) more and more. I mean she has no empathy what so ever. She is sickening. Its scary what a human can become when they feel no connection to others.

[BronxBoy]

6. Man oh Man

They spent 20 million on a rec center but can't spend 14 grand on rape kits.

There's leadership that has their priorities in order

[faithfulcitizen]

7. tick...tock...

[Terry_M]

8. What I'm wondering is..

How much do those rape-kits cost? at 5,000-14,000$ a year for a town of 9,000 people....

[intheflow]

10. There was a thread a few days ago

showing that Wasilla has a high percentage of registered sex offenders. Lemme see if I can find that...

Found it! "The ratio of number of residents in Wasilla to the number of sex offenders is 133 to 1." http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6988705&mesg_id=6988705

[Jim Lane]

11. Each kit costs $500 to $1,200

Or, at least, that's what Wasilla was billing for them, according to in USA Today.

If the cost to Wasilla was less and the Palin administration was turning this into a little profit center for the town, well, that would be fully in keeping with Republican ideology.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

9. She's a real reformer alright.

[adamuu]

12. So this Town of 9000 has 5 to 28 reported rapes per year

Is this really a big budget item?
Apparently it is.

"It also quoted Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon objecting to the law. Fannon was appointed to his position by Palin after her dismissal of the previous police chief. He said it would cost Wasilla $5,000 to $14,000 a year if the city had to foot the bill for rape exams."

At $500-1000 per kit it seems like a small price to pay, unless the town is dealing with, according to some back-of-the-envelope math using the police chief's figures, between 5 and 28 reported rapes per year!

What is a reasonable, human reaction?
Whoa... why the heck are there so many rapes in this town? Maybe we need some outside help with this, or some more education, or public service announcements, or police training.
Or, the reaction of Palin administration, which was, essentially "whoa.. these crime victims are costing us too much!"

Disgusting. Truly Disgusting.