Sex crime investigators from across the country have gathered in Calgary this week to try to understand why so few sexual assaults are reported.

Only about one in 10 sexual assaults are reported , according to Statistics Canada.

"Women don't report because we're not stupid. The conviction rate is five per cent. You are treated in an inhumane way."— Jane Doe

One of the speakers at the three-day training conference is "Jane Doe," the woman who successfully sued Toronto Police Services after she was sexually assaulted in 1986 in her apartment by a man dubbed the "balcony rapist." A Toronto judge ruled that police had used Doe and other women without their knowledge or consent to attract the sexual predator.

"Women don't report because we're not stupid," Doe, using a pseudonym, told CBC News. "The conviction rate is five per cent. You are treated in an inhumane way. You are demonized. Your past sexual history — all of your life — is held in a court room for public examination. Why would you report?"

Calgary police Staff Sgt. Curtis Olsen said getting survivors to talk, and then keep talking, is the biggest challenge for police.

"We certainly do take everyone seriously and do everything that we can to have that wrap-around support for the victim," he said.

Victim shouldn't feel doubted: chief

Calgary police Chief Rick Hanson said the key to change is creating an environment that makes victims feel comfortable. In Calgary, police work with victim support groups, the hospital and the Crown to create that kind of atmosphere, he said.

"Consequently we have devoted a large part of our training to recognize that one of the immediate things they have to do is provide that support — get the professionals involved right away — so that the victim doesn't feel any kind of second guessing," he said.

If victims don't feel comfortable coming forward, Hanson said, there are consequences.

"Often the victims are reluctant to come forward for a variety of reasons, and that allows predators to continue to go out there and create even more victims because they're relying on the fact that frequently it's not reported," he said.

Police are making a lot of progress in solving these types of crimes, he said, especially thanks to advancements in forensic science.

On the first day of the conference, being held in a downtown hotel, Calgary police announced charges in a four-year-old sexual-assault case. A DNA sample ordered after a man was convicted of sexual interference of a child near a southeast community centre provided the break in the case, investigators said.

The conference includes 220 investigators, front-line officers and staff from partner agencies in Western Canada, Ontario and Nova Scotia.