FRANKFORT, KY – (AP) Gov. Matt Bevin has ceremonially signed a bill into law that strengthens the requirements for the testing of sexual assault kits in Kentucky.
Bevin signed Senate Bill 63, also known as the sexual assault evidence collection kit bill, Wednesday afternoon at the State Crime Lab in Frankfort.
The new law requires all sexual assault examination kits, which have not been subjected to testing, be submitted to the Kentucky State Police forensic laboratory by January 1, 2017. It also requires that by July 1, 2018, the average completion rate for classification of sexual assault evidence collection kits not exceed 90 days and by July 1, 2020, the average completion rate not exceed 60 days.
The law also increases membership of the Sexual Assault Response Team Advisory Committee to include the executive director of the Kentucky Association of Children’s Advocacy Centers.
Kristy Schwetman, Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner at Lourdes Hospital, says the bill will help the state share information with the FBI’s national Combined DNA Index System.
“The good thing about this bill is if any DNA pops up its going to go in the national CODIS record,: Schwetman said. “If they’ve been a perpetrator in one state and they’ve assaulted someone in another, and their DNA gets on the CODIS, then they can track it down.”
Schwetman said there are currently about 5,000 untested sexual assault kits statewide.
Additionally, the director of Kentucky’s forensic crime lab says the state is working through its backlog of untested rape kits and should get the first batch of results next month.
An audit last year revealed Kentucky had more than 3,000 untested rape kits, a collection of physical evidence from a victim after a sexual assault. Police check that evidence against a national database of DNA profiles to look for suspects.
Kentucky State Police forensic lab director Laura Sudkamp said her team has been working through about 300 rape kits per month since May. She said some of the unsolved cases date back to the 1960s.
Republican Gov. Matt Bevin appeared with Sudkamp on Wednesday to ceremonially sign legislation requiring law enforcement agencies to have policies on how to handle rape kits.