2020 FOIA Request
FOIA Documents
Jurisdiction Type
City
Response
Untested Kits Discovered
144
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 Simi Valley on December 15, 2020. On December 16, 2020, the City confirmed receipt of the request. On January 6, 2021, the City provided its policy on sexual assault investigations, Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Kit Tracking (SAFE-T) Kit Tracking Progress Report with kit submit dates between 1/1/2015 and 1/5/2021, and “Evidence Continuity Report” for cases between 1/1/2000-12/31/2021. According to the Continuity Report, the city collected 168 kits (69 kits between 2000-2015, and 99 kits 2015-2015), but there is no information regarding kits’ testing status. The SAFE-T tracking system report had 24 kits received by law enforcement and submitted to the lab, and the lab received 22 kits, had a DNA report released for 18, and uploaded 6 profiles into CODIS. We are unable to determine if 144 kits not submitted to the lab based on the tracking system report were tested or not.
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 Monica, CASanta Rosa, CAShasta County, 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.