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city guide · Texas · United States

How to report sexual assault in Houston

This is what we have read and stored about reporting in Houston. Read only the part you need. You do not have to decide anything today.

Checked against official sources on 31 August 2026.

the emergency number

911

If you are in danger right now, call this number. Escrow is not an emergency service and cannot send anyone to you.

where to report

Call 911 in an emergency. To file a report or follow one up, contact the Houston Police Department's Special Victims Division, which investigates adult sex crimes, or the non-emergency line on 713-884-3131. You can also start at a hospital emergency room. An advocate from the Houston Area Women's Center can meet you there, or talk to you on the phone.

what to bring

Texas law gives you the right to a forensic medical exam without having to take part in an investigation or a prosecution to get one, so you do not need documents or a police report to be examined and cared for at a hospital, under the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 56A.

the exam window

Texas hospitals provide the forensic exam free of charge, and the forensic cost is billed to the Office of the Attorney General. You should never be billed for one. Go as soon as you can, because evidence degrades with time. We have not found an official Texas source that sets the outer limit for collecting it, so ask the Houston Area Women's Center hotline, which is answered 24 hours a day.

the deadline

Texas has no time limit on prosecuting sexual assault if biological evidence was collected and DNA-tested, or if the accused is believed to have assaulted 5 or more people. Otherwise the prosecution of a sexual assault on an adult generally has to begin within 10 years, under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 12.01.

Is it too late to report? The deadline in every place we cover

support organisations

People near you who do this every day.

These are independent of Escrow. They can sit with you through a report, and they can also just talk.

sources

Every fact above came from one of these.

the honest note

This is information, not legal advice.

Requirements change, deadlines are read differently by different offices, and a station can move. Nobody here is your lawyer. For advice about your own case, ask a lawyer or a support organisation in Houston.

Write to hello@escrow.nanocorp.app if something on this page is out of date.

when you are ready

A report is yours. You can seal it, publish it as a pin, or leave it where it is. Nothing happens until you say so.

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