TWENTY years ago, Annelle Amaral was an HPD officer who gave three public presentations a day about rape prevention. During the Ariyoshi administration, she ran the Office of Affirmative Action. Then, 10 years ago, Amaral won a seat in the state House and served the 42nd District until being ousted last year by Mark Moses. A new mission for
ousted state legislatorToday, Amaral's resume has an aura of deja vu. Once again, the Makakilo resident is focusing on the crime of rape.
But this time, instead of talking about its prevention from a cop's perspective, Amaral is striving to help victims after sexual assault has occurred, as statewide coordinator of five rape crisis centers on four islands.
Lucky for Amaral that she saw the classified ad. Luckier for the Hawaii State Coalition Against Sexual Assault that she accepted the coordinator's job. Luckiest of all for the community that this no-nonsense Type A is intent on winning more funding, support and public understanding for her rape crisis centers, since the crime of sexual assault thrives in the shadows of secrecy and shame.
Amaral, 49, has already accomplished quite a bit since assuming the post in December. On the monetary front, she has garnered nearly $250,000 in federally funded grants to establish two local programs.
The first grant, for about $87,000, will establish medical and legal protocol on all islands for doctors and nurses to collect and preserve evidence from rape victims. Such standardization is the key to better prosecution of rapists.
The second grant, for about $160,000, will set up an interagency council in Hawaii. Made up of police, prosecutors, health-care professionals and rape center personnel, it will forge an agreement on how to handle a rape case, from the victim's 911 call to the end of long-term counseling.
Beside instituting these ground-breaking programs, Amaral must also push the old standard: education. She is specifically interested in arranging informational talks before groups of:
1) Doctors, who may benefit from a refresher course on latent signs of rape trauma. Amaral cites the example of someone getting hurt in a fall, thereby triggering repressed memories of childhood molestation through symptoms like sleeplessness, lingering aches and unexplained anxiety. Referral to long-term counseling can help in a patient's recovery.
2) Priests and other clergy personnel, who as confidantes of their parishioners need to know about the many services offered by rape crisis centers.
3) Employees of large companies, who can have their consciousness raised about the crime and aftermath of sexual assault through free presentations given at their offices.
SOMETIMES listening to talks about rape is difficult because it makes people, especially women, realize how vulnerable they are in their day-to-day existence, says Amaral.
"It's a challenge to discuss it with frankness and dignity," she acknowledges. "A woman would rather hear a speaker on domestic violence because she may think, 'Oh, my husband would never hit me.' But rape can happen to anyone, and that can lead to feelings of anxiety."
Easing such anxiety and enlightening previously closed minds is the current mission of a cop turned legislator turned chief coordinator of rape crisis services. Ironically, her former constituents may have inadvertently done the community-at-large a big favor by voting out Annelle Amaral.