City of Phoenix Police Department's 2016 National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative

The National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) provides funding to state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, and prosecutor’s offices to support multidisciplinary community response teams engaged in the comprehensive reform of jurisdictions’ approaches to sexual assault cases resulting from evidence found in previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits (SAKs) - i.e. those SAKs that have never been submitted to a crime laboratory.

The goal of the SAKI is the creation of a coordinated community response that ensures just resolution to these cases whenever possible through a victim-centered approach, as well as to build jurisdictions’ capacity to prevent the development of conditions that lead to high numbers of unsubmitted SAKs in the future. The holistic program provides jurisdictions with resources to address their unsubmitted SAK issue, including support to inventory, test, and track SAKs; create and report performance metrics; access necessary training to increase effectiveness in addressing the complex issues associated with these cases and engage in multidisciplinary policy development, implementation, and coordination; and improve practices related to investigation, prosecution, and victim engagement and support in connection with evidence and cases resulting from the testing process.

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 National SAKI Program will provide funds to recipients to implement or enhance the comprehensive BJA model to address the issues that underline the problem of unsubmitted SAKs or to expand their existing SAKI project to include the collection of lawfully owed DNA samples from convicted offenders.

The Phoenix Police Department (PPD) will use the FY 2016 SAKI award to address the backlog of untested SAK’s within the city’s limits, using the BJA model. Funds from this grant will be used to: conduct an inventory of the city of Phoenix’s untested SAK’s; hire a site coordinator to serve as a central point of contact for the team and to oversee the achievement of milestones associated with this grant; outsource untested sexual assault kits to a private DNA laboratory; outsource technical reviews of outsourced sexual assault kits; hire a laboratory technician to handle outsourcing of evidence, tracking of outsourced evidence and receipt of returned evidence and extracts; hire two contract investigators to engage in victim notification, investigate CODIS hits, engage in prosecutions, and track the progress of these kits; hire one forensic scientist to complete DNA analysis on sexual assault kits, outsource case file reviews and complete CODIS profile entries; purchase equipment for hired employees; purchase supplies needed to for the DNA analysis completed by forensic scientists hired under SAKI; travel to Washington DC for a sexual assault summit for all key personnel; fund investigative travel for detectives; and fund overtime for laboratory personnel to aid in the outsourcing and analysis of SAKs and postage to ship kits to a private DNA laboratory.

CA/NCF