{"id":31201,"date":"2019-02-07T16:36:08","date_gmt":"2019-02-07T22:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=31201"},"modified":"2020-01-13T09:59:35","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T15:59:35","slug":"state-investigators-say-sexual-assault-kit-tracking-system-will-aid-investigations-inform-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2019\/02\/07\/state-investigators-say-sexual-assault-kit-tracking-system-will-aid-investigations-inform-victims\/","title":{"rendered":"State investigators say sexual assault kit tracking system will aid investigations, inform victims"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_31203\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-31203 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Lauren-Atkins-1920x1169.jpg\" alt=\"Lauren Atkins sits on a bench on the University of Oklahoma's campus.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Lauren-Atkins-1920x1169.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Lauren-Atkins-672x409.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Lauren-Atkins-768x468.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Lauren-Atkins-150x91.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Lauren-Atkins-300x183.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Lauren-Atkins-620x378.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Lauren-Atkins-1773x1080.jpg 1773w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Quinton Chandler \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lauren Atkins said sexual assault kits are a crucial part of an investigation and are very important to a victim looking for justice.<\/p>\n<\/div><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/571841385&color=%23ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p><p>Eighteen-year-old Lauren Atkins is a freshman at the University of Oklahoma and in May 2017 she and her parents called Oklahoma City police to report she was raped by a friend at a party.<\/p><p>Atkins described it as a \u201ctypical high school party.\u201d She and her friends were drinking alcohol and Atkins passed out in a bathroom.<\/p><p>\u201cI ended up in the room that the bathroom is connected to and I was laying on the bed and I woke up to someone sexually assaulting me,\u201d Atkins said.<\/p><p>Atkins said police told her to go to a hospital for a forensic examination.<\/p><p>She followed the advice. But almost two years later she isn\u2019t sure what happened to the forensic evidence.<\/p><p>\u201cNo one called me after telling me if they found anything or, really nothing. No one told me anything about the kit,\u201d Atkins said.<\/p>\n<h3>Was it tested?<\/h3><p>The type of evidence collected from Atkins is commonly called a rape kit or sexual assault kit.<\/p><p>Atkins\u2019 confusion isn\u2019t uncommon. Victim advocates say during sexual assault investigations many victims don\u2019t know what is being done with their kits.<\/p><p>A state agency is preparing to launch a website to keep tabs on forensic evidence collected after a sexual assault. State officials hope to launch the site in March. The new system and newly proposed legislation could help investigators solve sexual assault cases and give victims more peace of mind.<\/p><p>Atkins\u2019 memory is a bit hazy, but she doesn\u2019t think her evidence was tested. She hasn\u2019t heard from police about the case in almost two years, and the department wouldn\u2019t release any additional details to StateImpact.<\/p>\n<h3>Task force survey<\/h3><p>A statewide survey completed in May 2018 for a task force created by former Governor Mary Fallin, <u><a href=\"https:\/\/newsok.com\/article\/5599368\/task-force-works-to-finalize-recommendations-for-rape-kit-reform\">found 7,270 untested sexual assault kits were being held by Oklahoma police agencies.<\/a><\/u><\/p><p>There are many reasons why those kits haven\u2019t been tested, but the survey bolstered Fallin\u2019s order for the task force to find better ways Oklahoma could handle sexual assault evidence.<\/p><p>The task force\u2019s suggestions were written into pending legislation by state Sen. Kay Floyd, D-Oklahoma City. One of the suggestions is a tracking system for sexual assault kits.<\/p>\n<h3>The tracking system<\/h3>\n<div id=\"attachment_31204\"  class=\"wp-caption module image aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-large wp-image-31204\" src=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Matt-Stillwell-1920x1310.jpg\" alt=\"Matthew Stillwell sits at his desk in front of a computer screen displaying with a prototype tracking website.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Matt-Stillwell-1920x1310.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Matt-Stillwell-672x458.jpg 672w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Matt-Stillwell-768x524.jpg 768w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Matt-Stillwell-150x102.jpg 150w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Matt-Stillwell-300x205.jpg 300w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Matt-Stillwell-620x423.jpg 620w, https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/files\/2019\/02\/Matt-Stillwell-1583x1080.jpg 1583w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Quinton Chandler \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Matthew Stillwell is getting the tracking system ready for public use. He will also travel across the state teaching agencies how to use it.<\/p>\n<\/div><p>Matthew Stillwell is the sexual assault kit administrator based in the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation\u2019s Forensic Science Center in Edmond. The OSBI is where most police agencies &#8212; outside of the largest ones in Oklahoma City and Tulsa &#8212; send sexual assault kits for examination.<\/p><p>Other states already use online tracking systems. For Oklahoma\u2019s system, the OSBI borrowed one developed in Idaho. Stillwell is customizing the system for use in Oklahoma.<\/p><p>Stillwell sat at a computer working on the site. It isn\u2019t live yet, but the agency plans to put the site online next month. The plan is to assign every sexual assault kit an identification number. Anyone who has a kit\u2019s number can access information on it through the website.<\/p><p>Stillwell typed the identification number for a dummy sexual assault kit into the search bar.<\/p><p>\u201cSo you can see that it was created December 13, 2018,\u201d Stillwell explained. \u201cIt was sent to Saint Francis Hospital \u2026\u201d<\/p><p>In the scenario, the Tulsa hospital used the kit in an examination, sent it to police, who then forwarded it to OSBI for analysis. When the kit is analyzed, Stillwell says the site will generate an alert so victims or others with an identification number can easily find out if their kit has been tested.<\/p>\n<h3>Tracking system\u2019s potential<\/h3><p>Andrea Fielding is OSBI\u2019s division director of criminalistics and she also sits on the governor\u2019s task force. She said the tracking system\u2019s potential could be huge and not just for victims.<\/p><p>\u201cThe tracking system will give us an opportunity to identify how many kits we\u2019ve sent out to be used for the collection of sexual assault evidence,\u201d Fielding said.<\/p><p>From there, she said the agency could see how many have kits are used to collect evidence and how many are sent back for testing.<\/p><p>Fielding said it would also show how many kits are idle in police evidence vaults or were sent to prosecutor\u2019s offices. Fielding believes the system will lead to more kits getting tested.<\/p><p>Other states that ordered investigators to test backlogged kits for evidence were able to i<a href=\"https:\/\/www.detroitnews.com\/story\/news\/local\/detroit-city\/2018\/03\/12\/rape-kit-backlog-testing-detroit\/32874701\/\">dentify and prosecute multiple rapists<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Helpful legislation<\/h3><p>For the tracking system to work, Fielding said lawmakers need to pass newly proposed legislation. She said it\u2019s a new system and there\u2019s a chance some agencies won\u2019t use it. She points to the thousands of untested kits police never sent to OSBI as proof.<\/p><p>\u201cI guarantee you a great many of those should\u2019ve been submitted to us,\u201d Fielding said. \u201cI worry that if we don\u2019t have legislation to require agencies to use this program, they\u2019re not going to use it.\u201d<\/p><p>Fielding hopes three bills written by Sen. Floyd will eliminate that concern.<\/p><p>If the legislation passes, it would <u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oklegislature.gov\/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=SB967&Session=1900\">require organizations handling kits to use the tracking system.<\/a><\/u>The state would use a standard sexual assault kit that would have to be tested when certain conditions are met. And police would be required to complete <u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oklegislature.gov\/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=SB971&Session=1900\">training in multiple areas related to sexual assault, including how to use the tracking system<\/a><\/u>.<\/p><p>One of the bills also includes <u><a href=\"http:\/\/www.oklegislature.gov\/BillInfo.aspx?Bill=SB975&Session=1900\">task force recommendations for identifying old untested kits\u00a0<\/a><\/u>that should be sent to OSBI.<\/p>\n<h3>Atkins\u2019 thoughts<\/h3><p>The potential changes are welcome news to Lauren Atkins. She calls the tracking system \u201cbrilliant.\u201d<\/p><p>Atkins said sexual assault kits belong to the victims and they have a right to know where the kits are. Atkins\u2019 case ended when prosecutors decided not to file charges, but she is still curious what happened to the evidence collected during her examination.<\/p><p>\u201cThat is so personal to me,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is probably one of the most personal things you can take away from me and I have no idea where it is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A state agency is preparing to launch a website next month to keep tabs on forensic evidence collected after a sexual assault. A Democratic lawmaker has also proposed legislation regulating how the system should be used. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":31203,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"page-noFeature.php","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[1023,1022,1024,183,1021,1025,1026,1019,1020],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31201"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32284,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31201\/revisions\/32284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}