COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina's Legislative Audit Council (LAC) on Thursday released a review of the statewide sexual assault kit tracking system that’s operated by the SC State Law Enforcement Division (SLED).
The LAC says sled did not meet its June 1, 2022 deadline for implementing a sexual assault kit tracking system as mandated by law. The agency implemented the tracking system almost 21 months after this deadline.
“They said initially that one reason why it was taking them some time is because they didn't have the funding for the program, but we found that they didn't request any state appropriations in FY 2021, FY 2021-2022 or FY 2022-2023. It wasn't until FY 2023-2024 when they first requested some funding for the program,” Marcia Lindsay, Deputy Director of the SC Legislative Audit Council, said.
The review also states SLED cannot verify the number of untested sexual assault kits around the state.
As of July 1, 2024, Track-Kit recorded 763 total kits in the system. However, as of October 2023, 1,987 kits pending testing were identified at SLED's laboratory alone.
“The system was put in for survivors of sexual assault to know where their kits are in the process, so whether they have been picked up by law enforcement from the medical facility, if they've been transferred to the lab for for analysis, if they've gone back to law enforcement. If they've gone to a prosecutor's office, they are able to go into this Track Kit system," Lindsay said.
The sexual assault kit task force has only held two meetings - one in 2020 and one in 2022. The LAC says task force members did not participate in the responsibilities described in the stated purpose of the task force.
“We found that there were no notes or records of these meetings, and we actually contacted members of the task force, the non-SLED members of the task force, to find out if they remember what was discussed, how many times they met. We asked for all documentation of all meetings, and we could only get verification of two of the full committee of the task force and then there were some subcommittee meetings along the way,” Lindsay said.
The report also indicates there is an insufficient number of sexual assault nurse examiners to cover the needs in South Carolina, adding that not all hospitals in the state have examiners available, and some hospitals in our state turn away sexual assault patients because of this.
When it comes to the length of time from receipt at a laboratory to completed forensic analysis, the report shows South Carolina averaged 457 days. The majority of other states' requirements were within 90 days or less. According to the review, SLED took longer 80% than 15 states that were surveyed to process or pick up their kits
“South Carolina is, I believe, one of just six states in the whole nation that doesn't have a time frame for any parts of the process so, a time frame from when a kit is collected at a medical facility and when law enforcement has to pick it up, or timeframe that's required for law enforcement to take it to a lab within a certain number of days,” Lindsay said.
In a statement to News 19, SLED said:
"It is clear that the LAC has not presented an objective report that properly evaluates sled’s statewide implementation of the sexual assault kit tracking system in South Carolina. Nevertheless, SLED is pleased to report that it has successfully implemented Track-Kit™ statewide and in doing so, accomplished the stated intent of S.C. Code Ann. § 23-3-1300, which is to "further empower survivors with information, assist law enforcement with investigations and crime prevention, and create transparency and foster public trust.”