New reports show that Missouri law enforcement and other agencies have almost 6,200 boxes of sexual assault exam kits that have never been tested and 1,700 that are not associated with any police reports, including 312 in Greene County. The recent inventory conducted by the Attorney General’s office, using $700,000 in federal grant money, found 312 sexual assault exam kits in Greene County that were untested, including 234 in possession of the Springfield Police Department, 30 held by Greene County Sheriff’s Office, 17 at Cox South, 12 held by Republic Police, and 8 held by Willard Police.
Former Jasper County Judge M. Keithly Williams stated that “The important thing to do is to get the profiles done, uploaded into CODIS and respond to hits,” Williams said. “One of the things we have done is to make sure there is an investigation to follow up on CODIS hits.”
The inventory consumed about $700,000 of the federal grant and the creation of a tracking system is the next project that the grant will support. Attorney General Schmitt projects that the grant should provide enough money to test about 1,250 of the kits in inventory.
We expect an increase in the number of arrests and charges for sexual assaults in the near future in Greene County and Southwest Missouri, due to the testing of old sexual assault kits. It is never to early to get an attorney on your side to deal with law enforcement or prosecutors for you. If you or a loved one is suspected, arrested, or charged with a sex crime, it is critical to hire an attorney as early as possible to fight on your behalf.