The
Florida Department of Law Enforcement announced this week that survivors of
sexual violence now have a tool to follow the path of their sexual assault
evidence collection kits.
Based on a law passed in 2021, the state implemented a web-based
tracking system that allows survivors to monitor the location and processing of
their barcoded sexual assault kits and to be notified if a DNA match to an
alleged perpetrator occurs.
Previous rules required law enforcement to submit sexual assault
kits to labs within 30 days and created a 120-day mandatory turnaround time for
testing.
But the 2021 Gail’s Law took things one step further
and gave survivors the power to know the status of their kits throughout the
process.
FDLE used grant funding to purchase the STACS
Track-Kit™, joining approximately a dozen other states who have adopted or
intend to implement the online database software.
The database is currently being used by the 41 counties served
by FDLE regional operations centers in Jacksonville, Tallahassee and Pensacola,
as well as counties served by the Pinellas County and Indian River crime
laboratories.
Access to the database will expand statewide by July 2023.
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