2015 FOIA Request
FOIA Documents
Jurisdiction Type
City
Response
Untested Kits Discovered
5
Why did we send the FOIA?
In 2015, Joyful Heart issued public records requests to 22 medium sized jurisdictions for which we did not have any or had very little information about their untested rape kits.
What did we discover?
Through our efforts, we have learned that the Billings Police Department submitted 97% of all rape kits received between 2006 and 2015 to the lab for testing. As of November 2016, the Billings Police Department reported 5 untested kits in storage.
Why Accountability?
Right now, we do not know the full extent of the national rape kit backlog because few states require law enforcement agencies to count, track, or test rape kits. The Accountability Project aims to bring greater transparency and accountability to rape kit testing practices across the country.