An explosive Globe and Mail investigation has painted an ugly picture of how sexual assault is investigated across Canada and points to some departments as places where officer’s don’t believe the victims.

According to the article, Central Saanich and Oak Bay are two of the worst in the country.

The study looked at how often police departments Canada-wide coded an allegation of sexual assault as "unfounded."

“This investigation has determined that this crime didn’t happen, someone says I was raped, officers say I don’t think you were raped,” said Robyn Dolittle, the study’s lead author.

The Globe and Mail study found 19 per cent, or one in five allegations, of sexual assaults are dismissed as unfounded across the country.

“I think it is a surprising figure, it can be a really disappointing figure,” said Karen Wickham with the Victoria Sexual Assault Centre.

Central Saanich ranked as the Canadian community with the single highest unfounded allegations with 60 per cent.

Its police chief is worried the report will erode the public’s confidence in coming to the detachment when they’ve been victim of a serious crime.

“This goes against everything that we’re trying to do here,” said Les Sylven. “This completely sends the wrong message to people who have been victimized.”

The police chief says the numbers are skewed because Central Saanich has a small sample size. He’s also adament an unfounded code doesn’t mean the allegation isn’t believed.

“Six of the cases it was because there was just not enough evidence to meet the threshold to send to crown council,” Sylven said. “That doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen.”

Oak Bay also ranked high on the list with 44 per cent of its allegations over five years deemed unfounded.

“If we can learn anything from this report I think that’s a good thing,” Oak Bay Police Chief Andrew Brinton said.

Overall B.C. ranked lowest of all provinces at only 11 per cent, New Brunswick ranked much lower at 32 per cent.

Sylven says he will reassess how the department keeps its numbers so the wrong message doesn’t get sent again.

“We absolutely need people to come forward when they’ve been victims of crime, there’s no other way around it,” Sylven said.

With files from CTV Vancouver Island's Robert Buffam