GEORGETOWN — Williamson County Commissioners Court accepted the first-ever biennial report from the county’s Sexual Assault Response Team Tuesday, Nov. 21.
Mandated by Senate Bill 476, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2021, counties must produce a report every odd year, which details statistics about sexual assaults such as charges filed, how many are investigated by law enforcement and how many result in convictions or acquittals.
SART’s core members include representatives from the Hope Alliance, the District Attorney’s Office, Round Rock Police Department, Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, Brave Alliance, Bluebonnet Trails and the Cedar Park Police Department.
“Arguably one of the primary purposes of the SART process is not necessarily about prosecutions in the end, but to make sure that people, regardless of if they prosecute or not, are able to receive services they need,” said Ryan Bownds, chief prosecutor of the special victims unit for the DA’s office. “That’s why so many different agencies are involved.”
The SART report specifically relates to adult sex crimes as according to state law.
According to the report, 54 adult sexual assaultrelated charges were filed in the county from Jan. 1, 2022 through Oct. 30, 2023. In addition, the DA’s office totaled 47 indictments, 24 convictions, 17 dismissals and one defendant acquitted.
While the numbers seem to appear that only about half the cases involving sexual assault charges that receive indictments result in convictions, the limited recording timeframe means the report doesn’t represent the full picture.
Not every indictment has played itself out yet since cases can be left pending for months or years, Bownds said.
“In my mind, the biggest value for this report is we’re getting a baseline of where we are at,” Bownds said. “As the reports continue to be generated in the future, we’re going to be able to see differences in prosecutions and investigations and see what those numbers are.”
Andrea Richardson of Bluebonnet Trails, which has a role of offering mental health services to sexual assault victims, said that the most important part of SB 476 was to publicly announce that there is a system to help.
She also said it is important that people who perform public service duties know what the needs are in the county and how they can support those needs.
“What we are obliged to do is provide that public report (that says) this is the collected data, this is what we have learned from that and this is what the Williamson County system is going to be pinpointing as strategic activities in order to address sexual assault victims,” Richardson said.
She added the SART team has a responsibility to make sure the victims are okay and know that it is okay to report what happened to them.
Someone wishing to report a sexual assault can do so by calling the national hotline at 1-800656-4673.
