Baltimore police are reporting a sharp increase in rapes this year, which they attribute to a spike in violent attacks on prostitutes.
Police data shows that rapes are up 18% over last year as of Monday, with authorities noting neighborhoods that historically have struggled with sexual attacks — such as Dolfield and Dorchester, Pen Lucy, Curtis Bay and Baltimore Highlands — bearing the brunt of the crime spike.
“While we do believe the increases could be [attributed] to incidents involving sex workers, we are not seeing an increase in stranger attacks this year compared to others,” a police spokeswoman told The Washington Times.
Police officials hedged on their hunch, saying there is “no specific pattern in the sexual assaults this year.” They added that there is no evidence of a serial rapist repeatedly attacking women.
The Baltimore Police Department, which defines rape as any kind of forcible penetration, said most attacks are between people who know each other.
When it comes to attacks on prostitutes, the assaults often take place in a car after dark and can include a suspect strangling their victim, police said.
A former Baltimore police detective told The Times that the neighborhoods BPD said are seeing a disproportionate number of rapes are areas where prostitution is common.
He added that those same parts of town have open-air drug markets where users will frequently trade one vice for another.
The former detective said prostitute rapes typically start as a transaction in which a suspect is only paying for oral sex. But the client then becomes violent and beats the prostitute or pulls a weapon on the victim. The customer-turned-criminal then rapes the sex worker.
The detective, who spent 25 years on the force, said BPD is likely correct that the jump in rapes is being driven by attacks on prostitutes, since sex workers would only bring an attack to the police’s attention if it was serious.
“Prostitutes are very reluctant to report anything to the police because of the hassle and the time it takes away from earning money,” the former investigator said. “It’s likely that someone is hurting and possibly injuring the prostitutes so that they take the time to report.”
The uptick in rapes stands out as Baltimore is seeing a reduction in crime.
Police data show robberies (which includes carjackings) are down 8%, assaults by 12%, and homicides and nonfatal shootings by 28% and 38%, respectively. Violent crime overall is down 7% this year.
“There are various factors that lead to increases and decreases in reported rapes year over year,” a BPD spokeswoman said. “This includes societal changes, perceptions of reporting sexual assaults to law enforcement, law enforcement’s interactions with people engaged in sex work and other misdemeanor crimes.”
Police said rapes where the victim knows the suspect account for 75% to 85% of reported attacks. Those crimes often take place in the home of the perpetrator or the victim.
For attacks involving known suspects, police said the attacker typically has a minor criminal record. But in incidents where a stranger rapes a victim, the suspect has a violent criminal past 99% of the time, officials said.
Authorities said 30% of all reported rapes end in an arrest.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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