DONIPHAN — Both the Doniphan Police Department and the Ripley County Sheriff’s Department were recognized and awarded for their work with the Missouri Attorney General’s office.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said his office has awarded over 650 Missouri entities a Community Partnership Award.
These awards were given to law enforcement agencies and hospitals for their vital assistance in completing the Phase II inventory of sexual assault kits within the SAFE Kit Initiative.
“The Attorney General’s office came down and did an inventory on the DNA samples in the sexual assault kits,” Police Chief Mark Rodgers said. “We didn’t have any samples, but they also put a barcode on our sexual assault kit to track it.”
The assistance provided by Missouri hospitals and law enforcement agencies includes working to inventory untested sexual assault kits, clear the backlog, and getting kits tested.
“The success of the SAFE Kit Initiative depends on active participation from hospitals and law enforcement agencies willing to dedicate the time and effort to help us clear the backlog of untested sexual assault kits and achieve justice for victims,” said Schmitt. “We wanted to highlight the wonderful work these departments and medical facilities have done and thank them for their continued partnership with our office on this vital initiative.”
Attorney General Schmitt launched the SAFE Kits Initiative on Feb. 27, 2019, and appointed Judge M. Keithley Williams to lead the effort.
This initiative was made possible by several federal grants from the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Money disbursed by the state legislature, the SAFE Kit Initiative, is working to eliminate the backlog of untested sexual assault kits by gathering an inventory and working with law enforcement partners to get those kits tested, entered into CODIS, and referred for prosecution.