Check out my op-ed published in CalMatters: Law enforcement should get backlog of rape kits tested.
California legislators have enacted half a dozen bills in the past five years that send a bipartisan message to law enforcement: Identify and test the backlog of rape kits, known formally as sexual assault evidence kits, or SAE kits.
A bill was passed in 2018 that required all facilities that receive, maintain, store or preserve SAE kits – including law enforcement agencies, medical facilities and crime labs – to inventory kits in their possession and report their findings to the California Department of Justice no later than July 1, 2019.
The response was dismal. “Only 149 of 693 law enforcement agencies operating in California reported data for the audit, and no medical facilities in California responded,” according to Assemblyman David Chiu’s office, author of Assembly Bill 3118, which required the audit.
Read more here.