04/28/2007

The Saratogian
By JIM KINNEY

Regan victim's group gets publicity

SARATOGA SPRINGS - City Police Chief Edward Moore is not particularly interested in watching a "Dateline NBC" special tonight on John Regan, the man who tried to kidnap a Saratoga Springs High School student from outside the school on Halloween 2005.

But he is happy that the show will feature an initiative started by another Regan victim and excited about the work the group could do to help survivors of sexual assault and educate police, prosecutors and counselors.

"I think we have an opportunity here to bring some training to a lot of people," he said.

Regan, now 50 years old, tried to pull high school cross-country runner Lindsey Ferguson into his van as she walked alone through a crowded parking lot after practice. She got away and police later arrested Regan.

It turned out that Regan was free on bail facing two older sexual assault cases in his hometown of Waterbury, Conn. The victim in the 1993 case was raped by Regan while her kids were in the next room.

A then-friend of the family, Regan had waited for the woman's husband to be out of town then cut the phone lines and entered her home.

That victim, Donna Palomba, started the initiative, called "Jane Doe No More," in order to help other victims and further the use of forensic science in rape cases. At the time of her attack, police didn't believe it had occurred. She sued the Waterbury police and won.

"It was horrendous," Moore said. "But it's important to realize that that case didn't happen yesterday. There is a big difference between the way police handled those cases in the early 1990s and the way the handle them now."

Moore is on the board of Jane Doe No More along with District Attorney James A. Murphy III, the current Waterbury, Conn., police chief and forensic scientist Dr. Henry Lee.

Elliott Masie of the Masie Center in Saratoga Springs will also be involved.

"What he can bring to the table is e-learning," Moore said.

One topic could be what patrol officers need to say to a sex-assault victim to keep her safe, cooperative and from inadvertently destroying evidence. But its hard for chiefs of police to send people away to train, Moore said.

It is easy to set up an officer at a computer to take an online course.