Chief needs to take unfounded sex assaults 'more seriously,' says former cop

A former police officerwith 20 years of international experience is calling for more transparency in the way London Police have handled an internal audit into hundreds of cases of sexual assault.

It comes after London police Chief John Pare told CBC'sLondon Morningthat an internal review of 690 sexual assault allegations found to be without merit when theywere initially investigated between 2010 to 2014 were handled correctly.

• Internal police review finds no problems with sex assault cases deemed 'unfounded': Chief

• London police 'tone deaf' to sexual assault victims, former officer says

"The community should be concerned about the fact you have 690 cases, there's been a review and basically the chief is alluding to 'everything is going to be fine, we're moving on to the next topic," Hissong said.

"There are actually community members who have victims who are related to them, that they personally know what happened and I'm sure they're concerned about the crime that was committed against their loved ones."

'Chief needs to take it more seriously'

"So from that aspect I think the chief needs to take it more seriously and he needs to look at the fact that an internal audit, it allows the public to perceive that things aren't being done ethically," he said.

Hissong spent almost 20 years as a police officer in Mississippi, including a three-year period where he oversawall sexual assault cases for the Hornlake Police Department.

• LISTEN: Hear the full interview with Chief John Pare

Following his career in the United States, he served overseas with the U.S. Department of Justice and the United Nations, working to restore law and order in the breakaway republic of Kosovo.

Now the former lawman has settled in London, Ont., where he works as a security consultant and teaches security and policing at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo.

Police should bring in outside experts

Hissong said he could no longer stay silentafter hearing London Police Chief John Pare's comments about how an internal review by the department concluded that it handled all 690 unfounded sexual assault cases correctly.

Instead, Hissong said,London Police should open the audit up to outside experts in order to give the review transparency and reassure the public that the job is being done right.

"Ido without a doubt. I believe the community is owed that. One, is to prevent any further sexual assaults," he said. "Two, I believe it's part of being proactive."

"You put that out there to the community and you say 'we feel like as a police department we're doing the best that we can with the people that we have but we've decided to bring in some outside experts who can help us," Hissongsaid.

'I expect we will address this,' mayor says

"[It] assures the public that 'Hey, this thing is being done right' and the end result, I believe, is totally transparent and, I believe, it's more acceptable for the public."

As silence permeates the London Police brass on the issue and public criticism continues to build, it puts more pressure on city politicians to act.

"Certainly as a board member, I expect we will address this," London Mayor Matt Brown told CBC News, however Brown would not take position on the issue, saying it still needs to be discussed by the London Police Services Board.

"I think it would be premature for me to comment on how the board will address it," he said. "I think it's very important that we have that conversation and we listen to our community partners and the concerns they are raising and we take it very seriously."