A terse handshake between a sexual assault victim and Vancouver’s chief of police capped off an unusual and noteworthy report to the city's police board Thursday.

Catherine Francioli had filed a complaint to the board after she felt left in the dark and ignored by investigators working on her case. The East Vancouver resident had been confronted by a man as she walked home on Glen Drive near Hastings Street one evening in June 2016.

“He was smiling and I didn't really understand what was going on," Francioli said of the man she came face-to-face with. "Before I knew it, I was on the ground and he was just holding me there."

She fought off her attacker and called 911. She was relieved to see a large Vancouver police presence flood the area a short time later.

"The first responders were very caring and (considerate) the day I was attacked, but I felt like afterwards (the attitude) was very dismissive," she said.

Francioli said she was only contacted by police a handful of times after her initial interview and she was upset that the force didn’t issue a press release outlining the incident and the suspect’s description.

After contacting various agencies to file a complaint, she was able to formally register grievances about how the investigation was being handled with the Vancouver Police Board, citing a lack of sensitivity by investigators, poor communication about the status of the probe, suggestions the Sex Crimes unit is understaffed and pointing out a “lack of public acesssiblity to our institution of law enforcement.”

On Thursday, nearly two years after her initial complaint, a special Vancouver Police Board Service Policy Complaints Review Committee met with board members, VPD brass, sex crimes investigators, the Chief Constable and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson to address Francioli and members of Vancouver’s victim advocacy community.

“We've recieved over 60 letters in support of the complaint,” began board member Dr. Sherri Magee. “The police board and the police department feel very strongly about this issue."

Drazen Manojlovic, director of the VPD's Planning, Research and Audit Section, presented the findings of his review into the investigation to the assembled group, offering an apology to Francioli and insisting “such gaps in communication are atypical."

"The report concludes that the investigation itself was taken very seriously and as a priority," he added.

Chief Constable Adam Palmer then addressed Francioli and the advocates directly, outlining four areas in which the VPD could do better: timeliness of communication, better transferrance of files when officers move between departments, earlier review of a photo lineup by victims and a better dialogue with victims of sexual assault and advocacy groups moving forward.

“I don't want this to be a wedge issue where the community is coming to the police department and it’s not listening, because I'm telling you we are listening,” Palmer said.

The chief also said VPD members shouldn’t be broadly described as insensitive and dismissive, insisting the force values compassion and exercises it in all investigations.

"In this one particular case, because the person was transitioning to another job, the communication was not as robust as it should've been,” said Palmer. “That's what needs to be fixed and we need to have more sensitivity in files like that so it doesn’t get lost and fall off the table."

But Francioli was disappointed in the meeting and Palmer's pledge to learn from her experience.

"I don't have a lot of hope this is going to change the circumstance," she said. “I feel like most of the things they chose to address were very little issues in the grand scheme of things and… they were more concerned about justifying the way the department is, rather than making changes to improve it."

Maria Wong, speaking on behalf of Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter echoed the sentiment.

"The response was very defensive. We do know of cases that aren't thoroughly investigated," she said.

Francioli said the worst part of the experience was living in fear, not knowing if the suspect was still on the loose. She only found out from the report to the board that the suspect had been arrested more than a year after her attack as the result of a confessed assault on another woman.

The report says “when asked about the incident from 2016…he did not deny involvement but stated he did not remember since it was a time in his life when he was heavily involved in drugs and alcohol.”

Investigators discussed the case with Crown counsel, who did not believe there was enough evidence to charge him in Francioli’s attack.

“What the issue is here today is not the quality of the investigation,” said Palmer. “It was the amount of contact we had with the victim and keeping her involved with how the investigation progressed and we're sorry there wasn't more contact."