Sex assault victims in Hawaii can now track evidence kits

Victims of sexual assault can now track the status of their so-called rape kits through an online portal launched this month by the state which provides up-to-date information on when the evidence is tested and returned to law enforcement.

The tracking system was required under Act 113, which was signed into law by Gov. David Ige in 2018, and part of a broader push to make sure law enforcement agencies were doing a better job at pursuing sexual assault cases and being more responsive to victims.

The kits are collected following an alleged sexual assault and include DNA evidence collected by medical staff from the bodies and clothes of victims, such as hair samples and swabs of bodily fluids. When the DNA evidence is uploaded into a national offender database, it can help identify unknown perpetrators, confirm the identity of known offenders, connect rapists to previously unsolved crimes and exonerate innocent suspects.

The new portal allows victims to check the status of their kits anonymously by inputting their kit’s bar code number, which law enforcement began issuing in January 2020.

“Survivors of sexual assault need 24/7 access to the status of their sexual assault kits,” state Attorney General Clare Connors said in a press release. “This service allows survivors to anonymously and accurately track the status of their kits in a way that does not add to the trauma they already have experienced.”

Under Act 113 the tracking system was required to launch by Jan. 1, 2020, but county police departments and prosecutors said they had technical difficulties implementing a sexual assault management system that had been developed by the Portland, Ore., Police Department. A more simplified system, called SAMS Track, is now being used. The statewide system, in addition to the victim portal, helps law enforcement agencies track sexual assault cases.

The portal was required by state lawmakers after a 2016 review and inventory of rape kits in Hawaii dating back to the 1990s found that just 13% had ever been tested by police. More than 1,500 of the kits, which had sat unprocessed in storage facilities, were subsequently sent out for testing. By the end of 2018, the testing had resulted in scores of possible leads, including DNA matches with more than 120 potential suspects. The Attorney General’s Office on Friday did did not respond to a request for information on charges related to that testing.

Victims seeking information about kits that may have been part of that testing effort can contact their county police department or Project Malama Kakou, which was created, in part, to oversee the testing and assist victims.

The testing was just one facet of the state’s effort to improve how Hawaii law enforcement agencies handle sexual assault cases. Police are now expected to test all kits, with few exceptions, while the state’s forensic lab increased its staff to handle the added work. The Attorney General’s Office also used federal grant money to better train police and prosecutors on how to better approach victims and investigate cold cases.

Local law enforcement on Hawaii island launched a particularly aggressive effort to review old cases. Police had tested just 60 out of the 369 rape kits that had been submitted into evidence between 2001 and June 30, 2016. Big Island police identified 189 rape kits that should have been tested and sent them out to labs. The Hawaii island prosecutors’ office subsequently hired an investigator and cold-case analyst to review all 189 cases, regardless of whether the testing resulted in new DNA evidence. That effort resulted in two men being charged with sexual assault in 2019 and another case being referred to the Attorney General’s Office.

The pressure to test rape kits in Hawaii was part of a national push led by victim advocates that gained the support of the U.S. Department of Justice. In recent years the federal support has aided in testing more than 70,000 kits throughout the country, resulting in 880 convictions.

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More information

Victims seeking information about kits can contact their county police department or Project Malama Kakou at:

ag.hawaii.gov/hisaki/home/information-and-­services