Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Task Force is making progress - KXLH.com | Helena, Montana
Member Center:
(HELENA) On Tuesday at the Montana Law Enforcement Academy, the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Task Force (SAKI) discussed new elements that will better help sexual assault survivors and the un-submitted rape kits.
In September of 2016, SAKI was awarded nearly $3 million to send un-submitted rape evidence kits to a private lab in Utah.
“We’re starting to see some initial results come back just to show whether any DNA profiles that could be created,” said Jon Bennion, Chief Deputy Attorney General.
“Down the road we will be able to test those DNA profiles and enter them in the national database,” said Bennion.
Bennion is referring to CODIS, the DNA database overseen by the FBI where DNA profiles from forensic cases are compared to convicted offender DNA profiles and other forensic cases.
“What testing of these kits have proven across the United States is that it connects other criminals to other cases,” said Joan Eliel, SAKI Coordinator for the DOJ Criminal Investigation.
There was a total of over 1,140 un-submitted rape kits in Montana.
Bennion said as of Tuesday, there are a couple hundred rape kits left to be tested, which is around 3 months of work left for the private lab.
It costs around $600 per rape kit to test.
Megan Ashton who is Montana’s CODIS Administrator, said from the crime lab perspective, the goal for the initiative is to get profiles in the DNA database to provide possible leads for unsolved cases.
“The lab is a really big part of this project, and we want to make sure this project is successful, and so we are doing everything we can on our end to try to ensure the laboratory helps this become a successful project,” said Ashton.
A good number of the un-submitted rape kits date back 20 years.
“Sexual assault crimes are very traumatic, I mean you can imagine if you had to explain your last sexual encounter to anyone, let alone if you’ve been violated in this way, and so it’s really difficult to a person to talk to a law enforcement and advocate about something so personal and traumatic,” said Eliel.
The team is in the process creating a website for sexual assault survivors, including resources such as victim advocates, how to view the status of their rape kit, and connect with someone to help navigate through the website.
