Iowa Rolls Out New System to Track Sexual Assault Test Kits
Des Moines, Iowa – Iowa officials are rolling out a new system to test sexual assault evidence collection kits more quickly as they work to clear a backlog that once numbered in the thousands.
“We think this is something that’s important and helpful and friendly to survivors who were forgotten in the system for a long time,” Attorney General Tom Miller said last Thursday during a news conference about the computerized evidence system, called Track-Kit.
The system, which was rolled out in phases this year, helps law enforcement, health care providers and labs keep track of kits moving through the system, The Des Moines Register reported. About 75% of Iowa law enforcement agencies are now connected, with the remainder expected to join soon, according to Lynn Hicks, a spokesperson for Miller’s office.
Each person examined for sexual assault evidence also will be given a login to track the progress of their kit.
“It’s going to serve as the vehicle of transparency to survivors of sexual assault,” said Sgt. Geoff Peiffer of the Davenport Police Department. “Prior to this initiative, survivors would have to gather up their courage to make a phone call to law enforcement, maybe have to retell their story to the call taker and even get forwarded to a voicemail.”
A 2017 audit by the Iowa Office of the Attorney General found agencies statewide sitting on more than 4,200 untested kits, which are used to gather physical evidence from a victim’s body and clothing after an allegation of sexual assault. There’s a wide range of reasons the kits – some of which date back to the 1990s – were left untested, including doubt about the victim’s accusation, prosecutors not requesting an analysis, and uncooperative victims, according to the 2017 audit.
The state hopes to have tested all kits from cases in which the survivor wishes to pursue an investigation by the spring of 2021, according to a spokesman for the Iowa Attorney General’s office. Kits from the backlog have so far turned up 347 usable DNA profiles and 242 matches from DNA databases. Iowa law enforcement agencies have open cases for about half of those matches, according to the Attorney General’s office.
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