Calls for the San Francisco Police Department to immediately review its DNA collection practices and policies have ensued after the city's top prosecutor accused the department of using a database with the DNA of rape and sexual assault victims to search for and identify possible suspects in unrelated investigations. San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin said Monday that the police department's crime lab has often searched a database of DNA evidence that contains DNA collected from rape and sexual assault victims to identify crime suspects. He condemned the practice, calling it "legally and ethically wrong” and noting it “treats victims like evidence, not human beings.”
While it isn’t clear how long the practice has allegedly been going on, Boudin told the San Francisco Chronicle his office became aware of it last week. He added that DNA collected from a rape exam years ago was used to link a woman to a recent property crime. Details on the arrest and crime have not been disclosed, nor has the database been identified.
"Rapes and sexual assault are violent, dehumanizing, and traumatic. I am disturbed that victims who have the courage to undergo an invasive examination to help identify their perpetrators are being treated like criminals rather than supported as crime victims,” Boudin said in a statement. "We should encourage survivors to come forward -- not collect evidence to use against them in the future. This practice treats victims like evidence, not human beings," Boudin added.
He also noted that the practice is a violation of the California Victims Bill of Rights, which is supposed to protect a survivor’s privacy and guarantee that they are “treated with fairness and respect for his or her privacy and dignity, and to be free from intimidation, harassment, and abuse, throughout the criminal or juvenile justice process.”
Advocacy groups commented on the issue in horror and supported the hypothesis that such a practice will stop people from reporting and seeking help when they've been sexually abused.
"We are absolutely horrified that this is happening," Camille Cooper, VP of public policy for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization, told ABC News affiliate KGO-TV. "Absolutely horrified."
"From our perspective, this is a violation of a victim's right to privacy," Cooper added. "This would have a very chilling effect on the ability and the desire of victims to come forward and report to the police."
Cooper continued, "I also think that it's very important for survivors, at this point, that when they do seek medical care, to make it very clear that they are not consenting to the use of their DNA in this way."
The news follows criticism the department has faced in the past in its mishandling of sexual assault cases. Boudin noted that if the allegations are proven true then more survivors would be discouraged from speaking out. In 2019, a woman petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case against the police department for its mishandling of her rape. Other incidents of lack of care have also been reported. According to a 2014 KGO investigation, hundreds of untested rape kits have been found, spanning nearly a decade.
In addition to noting violations the practice enables, Boudin also noted that the state constitution mandates that this kind of evidence be destroyed or returned if it’s no longer being used to prosecute a sexual assault or rape case.
While San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott has declined to confirm the allegations, he confirmed with the Associated Press that he has ordered an investigation.
“We must never create disincentives for crime victims to cooperate with police, and if it’s true that DNA collected from a rape or sexual assault victim has been used by SFPD to identify and apprehend that person as a suspect in another crime, I’m committed to ending the practice,” Scott said.
San Francisco Supervisor Hillary Ronen also said she learned about the alleged practice last weekend and has asked the city attorney's office to draft legislation barring the use of rape kit evidence except to investigate the rape, the Chronicle reported.
More than 10 million men and women experience domestic violence and abuse each year, estimates the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV). You are not alone and what you are going through is not your fault. Click here for a list of resources for survivors.