Suffolk County Police in New York say that all seven precincts do NOT enter sexual assault victim’s DNA into a database for future prosecution.

TYT Community member Eric is the second person to take action on our petition campaign. He had a great idea to contact the county police and ask about all 7 precincts at once. Way to be efficient, Eric!

You can read about his update in the comments on this petition.

Thank you, Eric, for leading the way and helping to show us how we can accomplish this campaign together to protect sexual assault victims.

Status of police departments:

California

Los Angeles: NO (confirmed with TYT)

Sacramento: NO (confirmed with TYT community member Chelsea)

San Francisco: YES (under investigation)

New York

Suffolk County (7 precincts): NO (confirmed with TYT community member Eric)

You can help too! Simply read the instructions on the petition "update" dated February 22, 2022, titled "TYT is calling on you to help protect sexual assault victims."

Sacramento Police Department says they do NOT enter sexual assault victim’s DNA into a database for future prosecution.

TYT Community member Chelsea has taken action on our petition campaign! She confirmed that the Sacramento Police Department is not participating in this disgusting abuse of power. You can read about her update in the comments on this petition.

Thank you, Chelsea, for leading the way and helping to protect sexual assault victims.

Status of police departments (PD):

• Los Angeles, CA: NO (confirmed with TYT)
• Sacramento, CA: NO (confirmed with TYT community member Chelsea)
• San Francisco, CA: YES (under investigation)

You can help too! Simply read the instructions on the petition "update" dated February 22, 2022, titled "TYT is calling on you to help protect sexual assault victims."

Stop Abuse Campaign Endorses Petition

Stop Abuse Campaign educates and advocates to protect children from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) that imperil lives, freeing generations of children to reach their full potential. Learn more about their work at https://stopabusecampaign.org.

Thank you for your important work to help our families, and for supporting this campaign to ensure that all local and federal police crime labs stop entering sexual assault victim’s DNA into a database for future prosecution.

Do you know a candidate, elected official, influencer, or organization that would like to support this campaign? Email us at community@tyt.com with their name, logo, and evidence of their direct request to endorse.

TYT is calling on you to help protect sexual assault victims

With just a few minutes of your time, following the simple steps below, you can make a big difference.

P.S. We did it it too. See our example below.

1. Call a police department in your state. Below is a sample script if it helps. If you are instructed to email, as we were, there is also a sample email script for you.
2. Share your results in the comments on this petition. See below for a sample format.*
3. Check the comments on this petition to see if your police department has already been contacted. If it has, call another. There are nearly 18,000!

In an effort to ensure that all local and federal police crime labs are not using sexual assault victims’ DNA against them, TYT called the largest police department in California.

On Monday, TYT confirmed that the Los Angeles Police Department is NOT engaging in the abusive practice of using DNA from sexual assault victims against them. We are extremely grateful to them for following through with our request, for being quick to respond to our outreach, and for confirming that they do not do this.

Officer Drake Madison stated in an email response: “I checked with our Forensic Science Division and was advised the LAPD does not use the DNA sample from a sexual assault victim to prosecute future crimes.”

There are nearly 18,000 police departments in the United States. That’s why we need your help. Help us collect data on as many police departments as we can to ensure that this abuse of power is not being used against anyone else.

With just a few minutes of your time, following the simple steps above, you can make a big difference.

Sample Script:

Hi, my name is… I live in [city, state] and I am calling in regards to a news story that came out about a practice by the San Francisco Police Department. I’d like to be sure that your police department isn’t doing the same thing. A woman’s DNA from her rape medical exam was used to prosecute her for a future crime. The San Francisco District Attorney dropped the charges against her based on illegal search and seizure and violation of the 4th Amendment. Can you please tell me if your police department uses DNA from sexual assault victims in order to prosecute them for future crimes?

Sample Email:

Hello,

I just spoke with a detective at the Police Department's Media Relations department who directed me to this address.

I am looking to find out what happens to a sexual assault victim’s rape kit once it’s booked into evidence with the police department. Does the DNA of the victim get entered in the police department's crime database? What happens to the DNA information of the victim? More specifically, the answer I’m looking for is whether the police department uses the DNA sample of a sexual assault victim to prosecute for a future crime as seen in this article:

https://www.npr.org/2022/02/17/1081634509/san-francisco-da-drops-charges-against-woman-linked-to-crime-through-rape-victim%20%20Does%20that%20help

Thank you so much for your attention to this inquiry and I look forward to hearing from someone soon.

Warm regards,

Sample Results Format in Petition Comments:

Below are details to consider when providing your results in the comments on this petition. You may not have all of this information. You may have more. Just do your best!

City:
State:
Police Department:
Date called:
Date responded:
Name of officer talked to:
Date emailed:
Date responded:
Name of officer emailed:
Results:

Charges Dropped Against Woman Identified With DNA Collected From Her Rape Kit

San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin has dropped charges against the woman whose DNA was used from her rape medical exam years ago in order to link her to a 2021 property crime.

Boudin said this was an illegal search and seizure and violated protections of the Fourth Amendment.

San Francisco Police Chief William Scott has vowed to investigate the practice to ensure that it will not continue.

We at TYT will continue to follow this story and insist that all local and federal police crime labs end this abuse of power immediately.

How you can help: Share this petition with others. The more signatures, the more support we can offer as this investigation continues.