DPS NEWS

DPS Announces Sexual Assault Kit Tracking System for Survivors

The Department of Public Safety (DPS), along with the Commission on Criminal and Justice (CCJJ) and Rep. Angela Romero will unveil the implementation of House Bill 200. The bill, which was passed in the 2017 legislative session, provided funding to create a statewide sexual assault kit tracking system.

The tracking system provides sexual assault survivors with the ability to anonymously track the location and status of their Sexual Assault Kit from point of collection through forensic analysis. The tracking system provides real-time information to sexual assault survivors regardless of when and where their sexual assault kit was collected in the state of Utah.

DPS can now track every sexual assault kit in the state and can tell exactly how many sexual assault kits the state of Utah has, which ones are with law enforcement, and which ones have been tested. The tracking system will provide transparency, foster public trust, and empower survivors with information.

The survivor site is located at https://sakt.ps.utah.gov/sakt/status/. The tracking system has been operational since April 2018.

CCJJ houses the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) has been a natural fit to work with DPS on the implementation of HB 200 requirements. Many of these requirements are due by July 1, 2018. SAKI has worked closely with the Utah Bureau of Forensic Services Forensic Specialist, Marika Curtis to train across the state on the SAK tracking system. Marika was hired specifically to train and provide support for the SAK tracking system.

Trainings have been conducted from Cache County to Washington County over the past several months. These trainings are for evidence technicians, law enforcement officers, support staff, forensics nurses, victim advocates, attorneys or anyone that works with sexual assault evidence or survivors in the adult or juvenile criminal justice system. Trainings include a new video series to further educate officers on the best practices for those responding to a sexual assault. The video also reviews what happens after the scene has cleared- from forensics to working with victim advocates.

Below is the series of 31 videos produced to train public safety responders: