New sexual assault services facility to open in 'underserved' south Hillsborough County

Crisis Center expands to south Hillsborough County

There will soon be a new refuge for Bay Area victims and sexual assault. Next year, the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay will open a second?sexual assault services facility in south Hillsborough County.? It's an expansion they say is needed in an underserved area.

RUSKIN, Fla. - There will soon be a new refuge for Bay Area victims and sexual assault. Next year, the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay will open a second sexual assault services facility in south Hillsborough County.  It's an expansion they say is needed in an underserved area. 

They want to ensure all victims get the support and justice they deserve.

The new facility, set to open in August 2022, will be in the Hillsborough County South Shore Community Resource Center, at 201 14th Avenue S.E. in Ruskin. Staff at the facility will be equipped to collect rape evidence kits and provide emotional support and counseling.

As the county's certified rape crisis center, Crisis Center Tampa Bay already helps survivors in its north Tampa location. But not everyone is able to travel that far, meaning some crimes go unreported.

"Public transportation would take several hours, at the very least," said Kathleen Kempke, senior director of Corbett Trauma Center with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. "We know that even getting in a car and going to Ruskin or Wimauma could take an hour easily depending on traffic. For many folks, that could be a whole day. I mean, hours getting here and then several hours for the exam and having some comfort and some needed advocacy and crisis counseling, and then getting your car and going back. It just takes too long."

According to FDLE, there were 7,650 rapes reported in Florida last year. There were 363 in Hillsborough County, according to the Florida Department of Health.

"The last three or four months, we've had at least one a day," Kempke said.

In the past four years, Crisis Center of Tampa Bay has done 1,053 medical forensic exams in Hillsborough County, 23% representing people who live in south Hillsborough.

"But then we looked at the Department of Justice numbers, and what it told us is that we're only seeing 17% of the sexual assaults that happen in south Hillsborough," Kempke said.

In south Hillsborough County, victims who are undocumented are less likely to speak up.

"If someone is afraid to come forward, it makes them easy prey," Kempke said. "We have some estimates of 20,000 farmworkers and migrant workers that come into that area. We want to make sure that they have the services that they need as well and are not afraid to come to us because we do not tell law enforcement. They are not going to get into trouble."

The Crisis Center of Tampa Bay expects numbers to increase with the opening of the new location, but they say that does not mean more crimes are happening. It just means more victims are getting the help and empowerment they didn't have before.

"When someone is assaulted, every bit of control has been taken away," Kempke said. "What we try to do here is give them as much control as possible."

If you need help, you can connect to these services by calling 211. Calls are confidential and are answered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.