Sexual assault reports at Fort Bragg rose sharply last year

Reports of sexual assault at Fort Bragg increased by 28 percent in 2016 over the year before, according to a summary released by the Department of Defense Friday.

In 2016, the summary says, Fort Bragg received 146 reports of sexual assault. The previous year, it received 114 reports.

The summary notes that where a report was made does not necessarily mean the incident occurred at that location. The Department of Defense provides numbers of sexual assault reports made by service members and their dependents as well as civilian employees at all U.S. military installations.

Camp Lejeune, near Jacksonville, had 169 reports of sexual assault in 2016, compared to 164 the year before.

At Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, the number of reports dropped, from 49 in 2015 to 27 in 2016. Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, in Goldsboro, had 13 reports in 2016, unchanged from the previous year.

Over time, the military says, the percentage of service members who choose to report the crime has increased. In fiscal 2016, the DoD estimates that about 32 percent of service members who experienced a sexual assault reported the incident.

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 7:15 PM with the headline "Sexual assault reports at Fort Bragg rose sharply last year."