6.1 SHARP Under AR 600-52: Reporting Options, Complaint Processing, and the OSTC

SHARP Under AR 600-52: Reporting Options, Complaint Processing, and the OSTC

Core Doctrine: For the first time in Army history, the Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) Program has its own standalone regulation — AR 600-52, effective 10 February 2025. The 6 February 2025 revision to AR 600-20 removed SHARP from Army Command Policy entirely. A candidate who cites "AR 600-20, Chapters 7 and 8" is citing a superseded structure.

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1. Purpose and Structure

AR 600-52 prescribes policy, procedures, and responsibilities for SHARP. The program's goal is a culture free of sexual harassment, sexual assault, and associated retaliatory behaviors, built on prevention, education and training, response capability, victim assistance, reporting procedures, and accountability. The regulation gives SHARP two legally required overarching responsibilities: prevention and response, and it makes prevention a commander's responsibility.

The standalone regulation also expanded the full-time SHARP staff, formalized the roles of SHARP program managers, sexual assault response coordinators (SARCs), and victim advocates (VAs), and codified the relationship between SHARP and the independent prosecution structure.

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2. Sexual Harassment vs. Sexual Assault

The three categories of sexual harassment

• Verbal: sexually explicit jokes, teasing, intrusive questions about sexual history, catcalls, and demeaning pet names.
• Nonverbal: leering, suggestive gestures, blocking a person's path, displaying sexually explicit material, and sending sexually suggestive digital messages.
• Physical contact: unwelcome touching, patting, hugging, pinching, cornering, or unnecessary physical proximity that does not rise to criminal sexual contact.

Consent

Consent is a freely given agreement to the conduct at issue by a competent person, expressed through words or overt acts. Board-critical rules: lack of resistance is not consent; submission from force, threat, or fear is not consent; a current or prior relationship is not consent; and a person who is asleep, unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to appraise the nature of the act cannot consent.

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3. Reporting Options for Sexual Assault

The victim elects a reporting option in writing on DD Form 2910 (DA Civilians use DD Form 2910-8).

Restricted reporting

Restricted reporting allows a victim to confidentially disclose the assault to specifically identified individuals and receive healthcare, counseling, and advocacy without triggering the official investigative process. Its stated purpose is to give victims time and control over the release of their information so they can make an informed decision about participating in a criminal investigation.

• Who may take a restricted report: a SARC, a SHARP victim advocate, or healthcare personnel. A chaplain holds privileged communication and will refer the victim to a SARC or VA to execute DD Form 2910.
• Who may NOT: anyone in the chain of command, military police, or Army Criminal Investigation Division. SHARP program managers, instructors, and support staff are not authorized to take restricted or unrestricted reports and must refer the victim to a SARC or VA.
• Entitlements: emergency and ongoing medical care, a sexual assault forensic examination (SAFE), advocacy from a credentialed VA, behavioral health and pastoral support, and a Special Victims' Counsel — an independent judge advocate who represents the victim.
• Boundaries: if information reaches the commander or law enforcement from an independent source, the USACID special agent-in-charge is authorized to initiate an independent investigation, and SHARP professionals remain barred from disclosing covered communications unless an exception applies.
• Restricted reporting does not create actionable rights and is not a grant of immunity for either party.

Unrestricted reporting

Unrestricted reporting triggers command notification and a USACID criminal investigation, plus the full range of victim services.

• The SARC notifies the first O-5 in the victim's chain of command within 24 hours of receipt of a signed DD Form 2910.
• The victim's brigade commander submits a commander's critical information requirement report to the senior commander within 24 hours, with victim personally identifiable information excluded.
• The victim's commander provides monthly updates on investigative status until final disposition, and follows up within 45 calendar days after disposition.
• Military protective order: when facts warrant one, the first O-6 in the subject's chain of command ensures the subject's commander issues DD Form 2873 no later than 6 hours after the determination.
• Expedited transfer: the requesting Soldier's battalion (O-5) or brigade (O-6) commander processes the request under AR 614-100 and AR 614-200, informs the SARC, and arranges losing- and gaining-SARC handoffs.

Conversion and CATCH

A restricted report may be converted to unrestricted at any time; an unrestricted report cannot be converted back. The Catch a Serial Offender (CATCH) program lets a restricted reporter enter anonymous suspect information into a secure database; if another entry matches, the victim is notified and offered the opportunity to convert.

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4. Formal Sexual Harassment Complaint Processing (AR 600-52)

This is a brigade-level process, and the timelines are shorter than the ones many older study guides print.

1. The SARC assists the victim in completing DA Form 7746, contacts the USACID special agent-in-charge if a criminal offense is alleged, notifies the victim's brigade commander, assigns a VA on request, and enters the information into ICRS within 48 hours.
2. A commissioned officer administers an oath and swears the victim to the truthfulness of the complaint.
3. The subject's brigade commander (or civilian supervisor equivalent) coordinates receipt of the complaint. Where the victim and subject are in different units, the complaint is elevated to the first brigade-level or higher commander with command authority over both.
4. If sufficient information exists, the brigade commander appoints an AR 15-6 investigating officer and initiates the investigation within 72 hours of notification, and forwards the complaint to the first commander with GCMCA authority within 72 hours of receipt.
5. Investigations should be completed no later than 14 calendar days after initiation. Within 20 calendar days of initiation the brigade commander forwards a progress or final report to the GCMCA, and progress reports continue every 14 calendar days until completion. Every investigation requires a legal sufficiency review.
6. If the complaint includes unwanted physical contact that is not clearly sexual assault, the brigade commander coordinates with the legal office about informing USACID — and any doubt is resolved in favor of reporting.

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5. The Office of Special Trial Counsel

Acting on the recommendations of the Independent Review Commission and the National Defense Authorization Act reforms, the Army stood up the Office of Special Trial Counsel (OSTC) in December 2023. AR 600-52 recognizes the Lead Special Trial Counsel (LSTC), who supervises and manages the independent OSTC.

Covered offenses include rape and sexual assault (Art. 120), sexual assault of a child (Art. 120b), other sexual misconduct (Art. 120c), domestic violence and stalking, murder and manslaughter, kidnapping, and child pornography offenses. Special Trial Counsel decisions on covered offenses are binding; the command cannot override them.

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6. What the NCO Actually Does

• Know that you are a mandatory reporter. If a Soldier begins to disclose, say so immediately and offer to take them to a SARC or VA who can take a restricted report.
• Do not investigate. Do not interview the subject, do not gather statements, do not ask for details of the assault.
• Protect the Soldier from retaliation and gossip. Retaliation is itself a SHARP offense and a mandatory board topic under AR 600-8-19.
• Know the numbers. Your unit SARC, the installation 24/7 SHARP hotline, and the DoD Safe Helpline.
• Intervene early. The Army's bystander framework is I. A.M. Strong — Intervene, Act, Motivate. Most criminal conduct is preceded by boundary testing that a squad leader can shut down.