The Centralia Police Department and the Lewis and Grays Harbor county sheriff’s offices are among 53 law enforcement agencies across Washington state that will receive funding from the state Attorney General’s Office for refrigeration units to store evidence from sexual assault investigations.
“More storage means more evidence can be tested, and more crimes can be solved,” said Attorney General Bob Ferguson. “These resources will bring justice to survivors.”
Ferguson is providing the new units as part of his Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) — a campaign to improve Washington’s response to sexual assault and end the state’s rape kit backlog, according to a Monday news release from Ferguson’s office.
The state Attorney General’s Office is allocating $177,204.73 of its federal SAKI grant funding to local law enforcement for the purpose of purchasing refrigeration units to store sexual assault kits, according to the news release.
In partnership with the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs, the SAKI team asked local law enforcement agencies to determine how much new cold storage they need, according to the news release. Of the 260 agencies in the state, 53 reported that they will need more storage and will be receiving reimbursement from the SAKI grant, according to the news release. Of those 53 agencies, 41 will receive funding in this first round and another 12 agencies will receive funding in an upcoming second round, according to the news release.
“The Attorney General’s Office heard from local law enforcement that this is a major need. These resources will help ensure that sexual assault evidence, including evidence that needs to be refrigerated, does not expire due to lack of capacity,” stated the news release.
This increased storage capacity will help law enforcement agencies comply with a 2020 law, House Bill 2318, that requires “unreported” sexual assault evidence — including sexual assault kits and all associated evidence for an assault that a victim has not yet reported to law enforcement — to be stored for at least 20 years.
An unreported sexual assault kit is taken at a hospital and stored by law enforcement should a victim choose to file a report.
The law requires evidence from reported assaults to be stored for 100 years.
“Following the passage of the 2020 law, the Attorney General’s Office searched for innovative ways to support law enforcement, particularly smaller agencies that might otherwise struggle to purchase the new equipment,” stated the news release. “The Attorney General’s SAKI team found a variety of ways to save on projects, including repurposing travel savings from the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to provide this funding from the agency’s federal SAKI grant to support law enforcement,” according to the release.
More information on the SAKI program can be found at https://wasaki.atg.wa.gov/.
