The exterior of the San Jose Police Department
San Jose Police Department headquarters. File photo.

The San Jose Police Department is hoping to generate new leads in sexual assault cold cases by resubmitting hundreds of rape kits for testing.

The department has approximately 900 partially-tested rape kits from victims used to obtain DNA evidence to identity suspects. These kits have been previously tested under an outdated system. To get more conclusive DNA results, the city has received a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, allowing it to resubmit kits for testing, hire a temporary analyst to track the kits and pay overtime for detectives to investigate cases.

The $2.5 million will be spread across three years, with nearly $600,000 going toward hiring the full-time analyst, $1.1 million for detective overtime pay, nearly $780,000 for Signature Science forensic lab to test the rape kits and $27,000 for training.

“New technology and lab advancements have made vast improvements since initial testing,” an SJPD spokesperson told San José Spotlight. “SJPD hopes these resubmitted kits can spawn new leads in cold cases, enhance our DNA database of suspect profiles and ultimately bring closure to victims and families.”

Rape cases have been increasing in San Jose over the past decade. In 2022, the most current data available, the city hit a high of 894 reported incidents — more than triple the 270 cases reported in 2013, according to SJPD data. The rate has continued to climb every year since then, except in 2020 during the COVID -19 pandemic. In 2022, for every 100,000 people, nearly 92 experienced sexual assault.

When someone is assaulted, they can go to a hospital where a nurse trained in rape examinations will treat the survivor. The nurse will swab the patient and turn the kit over to law enforcement, who submit it for lab testing.

San Jose previously had 655 untested rape kits, some dating back to 1986. The city received $1.4 million in federal funding to address the backlog in 2021, and testing for these kits will be complete by September, the SJPD spokesperson said.

A large number of the city’s rape kits went untested when victims asked for their cases to be dropped, retracted their statements or when there was a conviction without physical evidence, Sgt. Steve Aponte told KRON4 back in 2022.

Sandi Johnson, former prosecutor and senior legislative policy counsel at Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, said having kits tested in these circumstances still provides invaluable information. Once rape kits are processed, the DNA profiles get entered into a national database called Combined DNA Index Systems, which can help law enforcement see other crimes that may be linked to the suspect.

“It becomes important to test these kits, not only for the case themselves, but also in order to support the victim and to support the safety of the community,” Johnson told San José Spotlight. “One of the things (not testing rape kits) really shows is a lack of understanding how it affects the victim.”
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The training that officers receive on how to approach sexual assault victims is crucial, Johnson said. Historically, officers are trained to see memory lapses as a sign of dishonesty. But for victims of rape, memory gaps are often a signal of trauma. Becoming trauma-informed is critical to conducting investigations of rape, she said.

“I always think it’s a good strategy to get all of your partially-tested kits tested completed,” Johnson said. “That’s 900 potential violent offenders who could be in the community. That’s 900 victims whose cases may not have had everything put forward.”

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.

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