2020 FOIA Request
FOIA Documents
Jurisdiction Type
City
Response
Untested Kits Discovered
TBD
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 Santa Monica City Clerk’s Office on November 2, 2020. On December 21, 2020, the City of Santa Monica responded that it will be unduly burdensome and not in the public interest to provide records encompassing a twenty-year period. However, The Santa Monica Police Department (“SMPD”) database allows generating a report that covers 2013 through the present on the number of kits received, booked, sent to the lab, and returned from the lab. The City requested $172.72 to cover the costs of preparing this data. Our partners at Goodwin generously covered this cost.
In November 2021 and March 2022, the City provided reports covering data from 2020 and 2019, respectively. According to these reports, the SMPD collected 62 kits, 54 of which were analyzed for DNA and if DNA was found, uploaded into CODIS and other databases. For 8 kits that specifically says “test for DNA”, the police records administrator did not know what tests were performed on the kit, or whether any tests were performed based on the quality or the quantity of the samples in the rape kit. We are inquiring more information about these kits. Some of the tested kits were returned to the police department and some remained at the lab; and there are no destroyed or lost kits.
As of April 2022, we are awaiting reports from 2012-2018.
In November 2021 and March 2022, the City provided reports covering data from 2020 and 2019, respectively. According to these reports, the SMPD collected 62 kits, 54 of which were analyzed for DNA and if DNA was found, uploaded into CODIS and other databases. For 8 kits that specifically says “test for DNA”, the police records administrator did not know what tests were performed on the kit, or whether any tests were performed based on the quality or the quantity of the samples in the rape kit. We are inquiring more information about these kits. Some of the tested kits were returned to the police department and some remained at the lab; and there are no destroyed or lost kits.
As of April 2022, we are awaiting reports from 2012-2018.
More Accountability Targets in California
Bakersfield, CAConcord, CACorona, CAFremont, CAFresno, CAFullerton, CAGarden Grove, CAGlendale, CAHayward, CALong Beach, CAOrange, CAOxnard, CAPasadena, CAPomona, CARedding, CASacramento, CASalinas, CASan Bernardino, CASan Diego, CASan Jose, CASanta Barbara, CASanta Cruz, 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.