Local level SAEC policies/data (Muncie, Indiana)

Vanessa Nason filed this request with the Muncie Police Department of Muncie, IN.
Due July 3, 2017
Est. Completion None
Status
Awaiting Response

Communications

From: Vanessa Nason

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Indiana Access to Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

Any and all statistics, data, reports, audits, policies, and procedures pertaining to the following items regarding sexual assault evidence collection (SAEC) kits (also known as "rape kits") and processing:

• all standard operating procedures regarding the SAEC process

• any written policies or procedures regarding department practices on the acquisition of or handling of rape kit evidence, including protocols for its collection, testing, and delegation and transfer to all other possibly relevant locations, laboratories, or agencies

• the number of kits collected and booked into evidence from the period of January 1, 2000 through the date this request is processed

• the number of kits that have been processed by a public or private crime or forensic laboratory or equivalent processing location from the period of January 1, 2000 through the date this request is processed

• the number of unprocessed kits in any storage facilities currently under the department’s jurisdiction and control, including those held by medical personnel or at external laboratory locations

• any materials regarding the status or ultimate disposition of cases in which a kit was collected. Please include all available segregable data.

• all audits involving this agency regarding the collection or backlog of SAEC kits

• all proposed alterations or yet-to-be-implemented changes to the policies and procedures regarding the collection, testing, and use of SAEC kits

If there any questions about this request, please feel free to call us at the MuckRock office at 617-299-1832.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Vanessa Nason

From:

Vanessa Nason,

The Indiana Access to Public Records Act requires that the Public
Records Requestor identify with "_REASONABLE PARTICULARITY_" the
document(s) or public record(s) you are requesting. "Any and all" is
way too broad and does not fit the definition of "Reasonable
Particularity". Basically, you need to tell us what document(s) we
have by providing the report number(s), date(s)s, time(s),
location(s), victim name(s), or any combination, which
would reasonably lead us to the document(s) you are requesting. We
are not required to generate statistical information from those
reports for you. We send Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and they publish the data they
collect from Agencies like ours in a public document. You may contact
them to find out what is obtainable from them and how. 

"Standard Operating Procedures" and "Policies and Procedures" are
internal documents and not classified as Public Record.

Numbers regarding the collection, storage, processing or unprocessed
kits are work product and/or investigative in nature and are also not
subject to the Indiana Public Records Act.

This Agency relies on the Indiana State Police Laboratory for
forensic testing of "Rape Kits". It is their laboratory that would
determine if they would handle the testing themselves or if they would
pass that testing on to a different laboratory. It is suggested that
you contact them directly, as we do not possess that information or
their criteria for that decision.

Sincerely,

Records Division - Muncie Police Department

From: Vanessa Nason

Do you have any guidebooks on collecting, storing, transferring, and/or destroying rape kits, as well as how sexual assault evidence is gathered?

From:

Vanessa Nason,

We do not have a public guidebook or publication. Our internal
Policies and Procedures provide for our handling of evidence. Again,
those internal Policies and Procedures are not considered Public
Records. 

If you are asking about how those rape kits are completed, we
utilize a SANE Nurse (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) at our local
hospital's (Ball Memorial Hospital) Emergency Department. If a SANE
Nurse is not available, the victim is transferred to a hospital in the
next county where a SANE Nurse is available. You can contact them
directly regarding the procedures they use and whether they are
willing to provide them. Being a medical facility, you may run into
HIPPA and or confidentiality issues.

Sincerely,

Records Division - Muncie Police Department

From: Vanessa Nason

Thank you.

Do you have any data on the following:

• the number of kits collected and booked into evidence from the period of January 1, 2000 through the date this request is processed

• the number of kits that have been processed by a public or private crime or forensic laboratory or equivalent processing location from the period of January 1, 2000 through the date this request is processed

• the number of unprocessed kits in any storage facilities currently under the department’s jurisdiction and control, including those held by medical personnel or at external laboratory locations

From:

There is nothing that we've seen in the Indiana Access to Public
Records statutes that require us to generate statistical information.
As far as the statute reads, your must identify with "Reasonable
Particularity" specific documents for us to release the "public
record" form of those specified reports, which is to say they are
summaries of reports. "Reasonable Particularity" means that you must
provide sufficient enough information to lead us to the report(s) you
are requesting, such as report number, date/time, locations, victim
name, etc., or combination of those identify a specific record or
report. There are also exemptions that apply to Law Enforcement where
we can withhold internal documents and investigative materials, to
name a few. 

That being said, your email request was forwarded to our Property
Room, as the Records Division does not maintain any of the information
that you are requesting, nor do we have access to that data. Feel free
to email them directly at  propertyroom@cityofmuncie.com [1]

Records Division - Muncie Police Department

From: MuckRock

Hello,

The Muncie Police Department directed me to you for information on the following points, taken from a public records request I submitted to them on May 18:

Thank you.

Do you have any data on the following:

• the number of kits collected and booked into evidence from the period of January 1, 2000 through the date this request is processed

• the number of kits that have been processed by a public or private crime or forensic laboratory or equivalent processing location from the period of January 1, 2000 through the date this request is processed

• the number of unprocessed kits in any storage facilities currently under the department’s jurisdiction and control, including those held by medical personnel or at external laboratory locations

I'm wondering if you have this data?

Thanks,
Vanessa

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