FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2020
Attorney General Report on Disposal of Sexual Assault Evidence Kits
Recently, the Maryland Sexual Assault Evidence Kit Policy and Funding Committee released its 2019 annual report. In the report, the Frederick Police Department (FPD) is listed as having disposed of 84 Sexual Assault Evidence Kits (SAEKs) in the previous two years. On August 19, 2019, the FPD reported its SAEK statistics to the State of Maryland Office of the Attorney General (OAG) as required by law. FPD erred in reporting that 84 SAEKs were disposed of in a two year period. This error is due to including SAEKs disposed of in previous years, beyond the two-year scope of the OAG’s request.
COMAR 02.08.01.04 went into effect on October 1, 2017, and mandated that SAEKs be retained by police departments for 20 years with two narrow exceptions. Since this law went into effect, and during the timeframe requested by the OAG, FPD disposed of 10 SAEKs. FPD has assigned a supervising detective to review the 10 cases to determine the reasons for disposal.
It is important to note that SAEKs disposed of prior to October 1, 2017, were disposed of in accordance with the law with many had undergone laboratory testing.
The FPD takes pride in working closely with victims of any crime. We take reports of crime seriously and investigate crime as thoroughly as possible in the interest of justice. FPD has a dedicated Victim Services Unit to provide additional services to victims and individuals in vulnerable populations.
