Police and serial rapist

As a woman living in Philadelphia, I was horrified by your story about the attempted sexual assault in 1997 that has been linked to the "Rittenhouse rapist" (Inquirer, Oct. 7).

The police reaction to this incident was outrageous. They dismissed this young woman's account in part because "she looked like a woman who thought every man should want her"? I had to read this quote three times before I believed it. Perhaps if the police had trusted this young woman and pursued her attacker, he would not subsequently have killed one woman and raped at least four others.

The Philadelphia police should react immediately and publicly to this report, by retraining their officers to handle sexual assault cases and by condemning the actions of the individuals involved in this case. No one expressing attitudes like those in this article should be a police officer.

On the other hand, perhaps the police want to discourage women from reporting assaults, to keep the crime statistics down. If so, they're doing an excellent job.

Suzanne Cohen
Philadelphia