2020 FOIA Request
Why did we send the FOIA?
In 2020, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra released a report, announcing at least 13,929 untested kits in the state. Pursuant to AB 3118, the Department of Justice is mandated to collect information from all law enforcement agencies (LEAs), “medical facilities, crime laboratories, and any other facility that maintains, stores, or preserves sexual assault kits.” However, only 149 LEAs and crime labs out of 708 submitted data, and we still do not know the extent of the backlog in California. To shed light on the true extent of the backlog in California, through The Accountability Project, Joyful Heart has issued public records requests to police departments in the 21 largest cities in California that have not participated in the inventory.
What did we discover?
The Pomona Police Department provided data from 2000-2020. In total, the Department collected 819 SAKs, of which 783 were analyzed, 28 were not analyzed, and 335 were destroyed. According to the records provided, all the kits from before 2016 were analyzed, and no kit has been destroyed since 2016. The Department did not provide any reasons for why the kits were not tested or destroyed.
More Accountability Targets in California
Bakersfield, CAConcord, CACorona, CAFremont, CAFresno, CAFullerton, CAGarden Grove, CAGlendale, CAHayward, CALong Beach, CAOrange, CAOxnard, CAPasadena, CARedding, CASacramento, CASalinas, CASan Bernardino, CASan Diego, CASan Jose, CASanta Barbara, CASanta Cruz, CASanta Monica, CASanta Rosa, CAShasta County, CASimi Valley, CAStockton, CATorrance, CAVallejo, CAVisalia, CA
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.