A special police department set up to deal with sexual assaults will be founded at the end of this year, when police jurisdictions in the Greater Reykjavík Area merge.
Until now, sexual assault cases have been investigated within violent crime departments.
Attorneys for the Rape Crisis Center at the National University Hospital have welcomed the move, saying it substantially enhances the legal position of victims of sexual assault. RÚV online reports.
The topic of sexual assault has been highly prominent in Icelandic society in recent weeks following a series of sexual attacks in Reykjavík. In two separate incidents in the past month, young women walking alone were attacked by two men and raped. The perpetrators have not been found. Another rape incident involving a foreign woman who accepted a ride with a man two weekends ago was also reported, and this past weekend a group of foreign men attempted to rape a woman in one of Reykjavík’s pubs.
