Dynamic bystanders – key to preventing sexual assault

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Jodi M. Riley
  • 71st Force Support Squadron commander
VANCE AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. --  One of the most frustrating emails I get each week is the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Kneeboard, which provides Air Force sexual assault statistics.

The numbers are sobering. As of Aug. 30, the Air Force received 904 sexual assault reports for the first 11 months of the fiscal year. Of those, 209 were filed in Air Education and Training Command.

The majority of reported assaults, 42.9 percent, occurred between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. Alcohol use was involved in 30.5 percent. The fact sheet accompanying the statistics states victims tend to know their assailant as an acquaintance, peer or friend, and have known them for some time.

What isn't reported by the kneeboard, but we should all be asking, is how many of these sexual assaults could have been prevented if a bystander had intervened at the first signs of sexual assault? At the first signs of sexual misconduct? At the first signs of sexual harassment?

In January 2010, the Air Force launched Bystander Intervention Training to provide Airmen with knowledge to recognize harmful situations and take action to prevent harm to their Wingman.

I believe Bystander Invention is the single-most powerful weapon in our sexual assault prevention arsenal.

We need to be dynamic bystanders. We need to keep careful watch on situations that just don't feel right in our gut.

We need to be extra vigilant in social situations that may embolden potential assailants.

We have an obligation to move a potential victim out of harm's way when we sense a dangerous situation developing.

We have a duty to redirect a potential assailant so they don't take that next step.

We must have the courage to step in, no matter how uncomfortable it makes us, to stop our co-worker, our friend or our boss.

I know bystander intervention is not possible in 100 percent of all sexual assaults. But I truly believe bystander intervention can stop many attacks before they reach their culmination.

Every airman counts. Don't just be good Wingmen. Be great bystanders.