A new report is shedding light into why some Saskatoon police investigations into alleged sex-related crimes end up unfounded.

The report, released Tuesday, highlights 284 investigations spanning from 2011 to 2016 that were classified as “unfounded.” Among these, the report states just over 82 per cent were “clearly unfounded.”

Police classify a complaint as unfounded when it’s been determined through police investigation that the offence reported did not occur, nor was it attempted.

In 34.51 per cent of the unfounded cases, investigators found no sexual offence had been committed. The report says these are usually third-party complaints made in good faith. In some instances, the complainant was intoxicated and unsure if they were sexually assaulted, but no witnesses or physical or medical evidence exists.

Just over 27 per cent of files involved complainants admitting to making false complaints or instances in which investigators found the complaints to be false. And 15.49 per cent of investigations found the sexual encounter to be consensual.

The report says many of these situations involve children playing or experimenting; people with mental health issues who don’t understand consent; or people who we’re not comfortable with the decision they made to have a sexual encounter.

Where files did not clearly fit into the “unfounded” or “founded” categories, it was determined to put them in new suggested category of “founded – unable to substantiate.” This accounted for 17.25 per cent of the files reviewed.

Two files from 2011 were found to have shown that an offence did occur, but were coded incorrectly.

The report says, in the files reviewed, investigations were thorough and it appears the complainants have been treated respectfully and efforts were made to advise them of why their files were no longer being investigated.

It also says a thorough investigation cannot always determine whether an incident actually happened. This was attributed to “he said/she said” scenarios without any corroborating evidence, or unreliable complainants, witnesses or suspects.

The report is expected to be tabled at the next board of police commissioners meeting on Oct. 19.