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?
Our partners at Goodwin submitted an open records request to the City of Salinas on November 24, 2020. On January 13, 2020, the City responded that their system is not set up to fulfill all the requested information, but can provide redacted documents. Later, the Salinas PD provided heavily redacted documents that showed six destroyed sexual assault kits. After additional follow up, the PD stated that they are unable to provide the data spanning 20 years, and provided a 25-page pdf with redacted lines and no information regarding the collection year or testing status of kits. Based on this document, the Salinas PD collected 416 kits. We do not know how many of these kits were tested, untested, or destroyed. We continue our efforts to uncover the true extent of the backlog in Salinas.
More Accountability Targets in California
Bakersfield, CAConcord, CACorona, CAFremont, CAFresno, CAFullerton, CAGarden Grove, CAGlendale, CAHayward, CALong Beach, CAOrange, CAOxnard, CAPasadena, CAPomona, CARedding, CASacramento, 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.