New inquiry set for AF Academy sex assault office
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — The Defense Department’s internal watchdog agency plans to investigate the Air Force Academy office that supports sexual assault victims after a previous inquiry found it was derelict in its duties because of poor management.
The Office of Inspector General announced Wednesday it would review the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office.
An internal academy investigation last year said the office was plagued by infighting, rumors and shoddy record-keeping. The director resigned and the academy said it would restructure the office.
The inspector general also will look into whether the academy’s criminal investigators handle assault cases properly and review the school’s mental health services for sexual assault victims.
The new investigation was requested by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Tom Udall, D-N.M.
Oahu homeless offered trailer with showers, toilets
HONOLULU — A nonprofit group started towing a 26-foot trailer around Oahu to provide homeless people a place to get clean.
Annie Valentin, executive director of Project Vision Hawaii, said the hygiene trailer provided hot showers and the use of its toilets to nine people Saturday in Wahiawa and a dozen more Tuesday morning in Kailua.
Valentin said people were lined up in Kailua before the trailer opened.
The trailer is outfitted with three stalls that have their own hot showers and toilets. One complies with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements and includes a diaper changing table.
The trailer is modeled after California’s nonprofit “Lava Mae” buses that help keep streets clean.
City officials tried to replicate the Lava Mae idea on Oahu last year by trying to convert two obsolete Honolulu city buses into Hawaii’s first “mobile hygiene centers,” but that attempt proved to be too costly. The city is now working to match the Project Vision Hawaii trailer with one of its own.
“Our effort is going to take a few more months,” said city spokesman Andrew Pereira.