Stop Spying On Survivors Of Sexual Assault.

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Friend,

The NYPD has a horrible track record when it comes to investigating reports filed by sexual assault survivors. The department’s ever-growing backlog of SA evidence kits is a massive miscarriage of justice, in more ways than one. Police departments across the country are mishandling the sensitive information that SA survivors provide via evidence kits, using survivors’ DNA in the context of outside criminal investigations. This duplicitous practice led the San Francisco Police Department to use a survivor’s sexual offense evidence kit to identify her as a suspect in an unrelated crime.

The process of reporting a sexual offense is already difficult enough. Survivors should not also have to fear that evidence of their assault will later be used to arrest them, instead of the perpetrator of their assault. Recently, the NYPD collaborated with New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault on a 54-page online resource guide for survivors, listing referrals for attorneys, mental health care providers, and physical examiners. This information is vital; however, the guide is in no way a solution for the real issue deterring reporting and preventing justice for SA survivors, especially as it refers survivors to services that the NYPD mines for incriminating data.

It’s clear that the NYPD does not truly care about supporting survivors, because if they did, they would eliminate the backlog and place restrictions on how SA DNA evidence can be used. Luckily, the New York State Legislature has the opportunity to pass legislation that would compel police departments to stop adding DNA collected from sexual assault evidence kits to the state identification indexes or other databases for criminal investigations. Urge your NY State Senator and Assemblymember today to defend justice for SA survivors by pledging their support for S997A/A5350.

In Solidarity,
Sarah Roth
Advocacy & Communications Associate

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NewsletterLeticia MurilloFebruary 17, 2024