None of the suggestions has been implemented, but Hickam officials are considering them in response to a disturbing study released Monday about sexual assault at Pacific Air Forces installations.

Gen. William J. Begert, the Hickam-based commander of Pacific Air Forces, ordered the study last September. He told his commanders last week to make immediate changes in the way the Air Force handles rape allegations after a study found there had been 92 cases between 2001 and 2003. Eleven were reported at Hickam.

But Begert also offered suggestions "to help us get control of sexual assault" at the Air Force’s nine major installations in and around the Pacific. Making dormitories "safer and more secure" is high on the list.

He said supervision in the dorms by squadron commanders and first sergeants was a leadership responsibility.

He also noted that reasonable limits be made on mingling between men and women. One way would be to put a curfew that would make men’s and women’s living areas off limits to members of the opposite sex.

"Although co-ed dorms are a fact of Air Force life, we owe our young men and women a safe place to retreat from the occasional pressures of work and a co-ed environment," Begert told his commanders. "That place should be their dorm room."

Because alcohol use was a factor in about 60 percent of the cases studied, Begert asked Air Force commanders to consider ways to limit drinking in the dorms. He noted Elemendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, which banned drinking in its dorms in 2002.

Hickam commander Col. Ray Torres will have to decide on what to do with the six co-ed dormitories on base and their population of 700 men and women.

"We’re looking at the alcohol policy in the dorm and a decision will be made this summer on whether we will ban alcohol in the dorms or not," said Capt. Heather Zwicker, spokeswoman for the 15th Air Lift Wing at Hickam.

The only limit now is age, she said. Airmen in the dorms must be 21 and older.

"We’re still reviewing our policies but we are going to be implementing some procedures to ensure improvement to victim support and also to increase education and training for supervisors," Zwicker said.

She said senior personnel regularly visit the dorms and that random inspections are made to guard against underage drinking.

But changes in supervision and curfews are not likely to be changed any time soon, she said.

"We’re going to continue to look at all the options to increase security for the airmen at the dorms," she said. "We are not necessarily looking at curfew now or increasing supervision but those are things we will continue to be aware of."