I’m proud to share that this morning the Springfield Police Department was host to area agencies from around the region in the latest effort of Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s SAFE Kit Initiative, which aims to eliminate the state’s backlog of untested sexual assault kits.
Representatives from more than two dozen local agencies dropped off a total of 100 kits at SPD Headquarters. The kits collected will be sent to BODE Laboratory for testing as part of a federal SAKI grant.
This effort comes as a result of a project created by the Attorney General’s SAFE Kit Initiative working group.
This effort comes as a result of a project created by the Attorney General’s SAFE Kit Initiative working group.
Last year Attorney General Eric Schmitt visited law enforcement agencies and hospitals around the state and observed the policies and practices in place for the collection and storage of sexual assault kits. After follow-up visits and observation by the chair of the working group, Judge M. Keithley Williams, SPD was selected as the agency to pilot the process.
During the pilot project, and after a review of the backlogged kits held by SPD, 30 of the 232 backlogged kits dating from 1989 - 2015 were selected and sent to BODE for testing in Dec. 2019. We are anxiously awaiting the test results for the kits submitted during the pilot process, to determine the next steps in the related investigations.
We are hopeful the project will continue and expand in order to allow the remaining backlogged kits held by SPD to be submitted for testing. These efforts mark the most recent positive steps undertaken by SPD as we continue to work diligently to identify perpetrators of sexual assaults and hopefully bring long-awaited closure to their victims.
- Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams
During the pilot project, and after a review of the backlogged kits held by SPD, 30 of the 232 backlogged kits dating from 1989 - 2015 were selected and sent to BODE for testing in Dec. 2019. We are anxiously awaiting the test results for the kits submitted during the pilot process, to determine the next steps in the related investigations.
We are hopeful the project will continue and expand in order to allow the remaining backlogged kits held by SPD to be submitted for testing. These efforts mark the most recent positive steps undertaken by SPD as we continue to work diligently to identify perpetrators of sexual assaults and hopefully bring long-awaited closure to their victims.
- Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams
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