Untested rape kit series (2): San Diego; Flint is not alone: San Diego is also plagued with untested rape kits (thousands of them), San Diego Union-Tribune reports on the public outcry; (Reporter David Garrick); "Police officials have repeatedly defended their policy of not testing many rape kits, which are hair, saliva, blood and possibly semen taken from victims shortly after alleged attacks. The lab only tests kits when there’s evidence a crime was committed and they are reasonably certain the DNA profile in the rape kit belongs to the perpetrator of the crime instead of a spouse or boyfriend. That’s because they aren’t allowed to search for matches in federal or state DNA databases unless those two criteria are met. They also typically don’t test when both parties agree that intercourse occurred, but there is a dispute about whether it was consensual or not. In addition, rape kits taken during homicide investigations don’t get tested unless detectives end up pursuing theories of the crime that involve rape or sexual assault. And in child abuse cases involving sex, evidence is more often found on towels, bedding or clothing. “We don’t take the step of testing a kit just to say that we tested it,” said Jennifer Shen, manager of the Police Department’s crime lab. Part of the reason for that is the complexity of testing and the cost, which is about $1,500 per kit."

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: The manner in which police, save, preserve and test rape kits is a barometer of the quality and integrity of our criminal justice system. The first of the three posts in the series dealt with  a  troubling situation in Flint, Michigan. This  post deals with the backlog in San Diego - and the third  will examine why it is so important to to have a seamless rape kit system - which will also protect wrongfully convicted people who may require access to the kits  years later to demonstrate their innocence.

Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog;

"Public outcry over San Diego leaving thousands of rape kits untested is prompting new city procedures and some proposals for policy changes. The Police Department’s crime lab says it has begun evaluating each of 2,400 rape kits left untested over the last 26 years to ensure there were sound reasons for not testing all of them. And a City Council committee voted unanimously in late September to explore increased funding for the crime lab so that all rape kits can be tested regardless of whether police deem it worthwhile. The changes come in the wake of a state audit that criticized San Diego’s backlog of rape kits, and complaints from community leaders about a city policy of not testing them unless a long list of criteria are met.  “I don’t feel comfortable with 2,800 test kits sitting on a shelf or in a freezer,” said Councilwoman Marti Emerald, chair of the council’s Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee. “We are intent on solving crimes. We’re not satisfied with backlogs.” Police officials have repeatedly defended their policy of not testing many rape kits, which are hair, saliva, blood and possibly semen taken from victims shortly after alleged attacks. The lab only tests kits when there’s evidence a crime was committed and they are reasonably certain the DNA profile in the rape kit belongs to the perpetrator of the crime instead of a spouse or boyfriend. That’s because they aren’t allowed to search for matches in federal or state DNA databases unless those two criteria are met. They also typically don’t test when both parties agree that intercourse occurred, but there is a dispute about whether it was consensual or not. In addition, rape kits taken during homicide investigations don’t get tested unless detectives end up pursuing theories of the crime that involve rape or sexual assault. And in child abuse cases involving sex, evidence is more often found on towels, bedding or clothing. “We don’t take the step of testing a kit just to say that we tested it,” said Jennifer Shen, manager of the Police Department’s crime lab. Part of the reason for that is the complexity of testing and the cost, which is about $1,500 per kit. It makes more sense, Shen said, to have detectives and investigators look at a case and determine who is a leading suspect and what is needed for trial before testing a rape kit. She said that in 25 to 30 percent of sex crimes cases a rape kit is not a key piece of evidence. In addition, she said that 50 to 60 percent of the time police get no usable results when they have a rape kit tested. But after a 2014 state audit criticized San Diego for having so many untested kits, the crime lab began adding to each untested kit the specific reason that no testing was done. And in response to complaints from victim advocacy groups and other critics, the lab recently completed individually checking all kits that are more than 10 years old to make sure they shouldn’t be tested. That covered about 1,000 of the 2,400 victim kits in storage. The city has another 400 kits in storage from possible suspects in sex crimes. Shen said the lab has now begun checking the remaining 1,400 untested victim kits in storage to make sure they shouldn’t be tested. “We will go through them one by one and we are going to make sure that we did the thing that needed to be done on each,” she said. “That will probably take us a little while.”
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/sd-me-rape-kits-20161010-story.html