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$4.5M Delivered To State Police For Rape Kit Testing

Josh James
/
WUKY

Millions in pharmaceutical settlement money will help Kentucky State Police prevent another enormous backlog of untested rape kits, but testing has yet to begin on the more than 3,000 unprocessed DNA samples.

"Do you want to push the button?" Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs Executive Director Eileen Recktenwald asked Michelle Kuiper, a rape survivor.

With one click of the keyboard at a press conference Monday, Kuiper deposited $4.5 million in the KSP fund dedicated to ensuring another backlog never creeps up in the commonwealth again. But so far, testing on the current inventory has yet to begin. That’s because the state Finance Cabinet has yet to ink a contract with an outside lab.

It’s a wait many survivors know all too well. Kuiper notes it took 17 years to see her rapist convicted and sentenced.

"You go through life functioning, that's what I call it, a functioning survival," she recalls. "But you really just don't know if he's ever going to get caught. I mean, I was in my 40s when he did, but it was because I did that kit. So the kit's so important."

Funding to test the backlog – about $2 million – came in the form of a grant from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Attorney General Andy Beshear says the state must follow procurement laws, but he hopes the cabinet is moving with all deliberate speed.

"I hope they get that finalized as soon as we can because we can send out the first group of kits almost immediately once that's done," he told reporters.

The Kentucky General Assembly passed the SAFE Act in 2016, mandating new time limits for the testing. By July 2018, all kits must be processed within 90 days.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.
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