BCA implements "victim-centered" tracking system for rape kits
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension has a new tracking system designed to ensure accountability in sexual assault cases. The agency is rolling out a new tracking kit for survivors of sexual assault.
Track-Kit provides survivors with up-to-date information on where their case stands. The hope is that the system leads to more justice.
"This is one component to bring greater transparency and accountability," Drew Evans, the superintendent of the BCA, said.
In the past, there has been criticism over some rape kits going untested. For example, the Minneapolis Police Department found in 2019 that some 1,700 kits had gone untested. Backlogged testing kits were sent to the BCA, the state's top law enforcement agency.
"Nobody really had a sound understanding at any given time where that kit was in the process," Evans said. "So [Track-Kit] was implemented to bring that transparency throughout the entire process."
The new system uses a bar code to update information about the kit's status and location in real time.
The medical facility that collects the kit creates record by scanning the kit's bar code into the system. Then, officials can update the status when the kit is sent in for testing, when it's received at the lab, and when testing is done."
"Our victim-survivors are provided a unique login/password so that they can see where the kit is in any point in the process," Evans said.
The Track-Kit system applies to restricted kits, where the victim does not consent to testing, and to unrestricted kits, where victims want the kits tested.
The information from the unrestricted kits will be shared with law enforcement and, sometimes, prosecutors reviewing cases.
"It's a victim-centered approach to make sure they are guiding the process and that all evidence is examine, " Evans said.
The Track-Kit system has already rolled out across the state. Tests taken before the system was implemented will not be able to be tracked.
