FOB92 just asked me to cross-post this :
8 years ago, complaints about charging rape victims for medical exams in Wasilla prompted the Alaska Legislature to pass a bill — signed into law by (former Gov.)Knowles — that banned the practice statewide.
“There was one town in Alaska that was charging victims for this, and that was Wasilla,” Knowles said
A May 23, 2000, article in Wasilla’s newspaper, The Frontiersman, noted that Alaska State Troopers and most municipal police agencies regularly pay for such exams, which cost between $300 and $1,200 apiece.
“(But) the Wasilla police department does charge the victims of sexual assault for the tests,” the newspaper reported.
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.”
Those poor Alaska tax payers! What ‘concern’ Fannon has for them. He must have forgotten that his state has the smallest tax burden in the Union.
I want to channel a big WTF scream through my keyboard, but what good will it do. What can you say to the (small) community that wants to pile on a victim of one of the most heinous crimes imaginable?
