Fundraiser organizers send $6,000 to CBI to urge faster action on rape kit backlog

A benefit organized to protest Colorado s -day backlog for processing sexual assault forensic exams resulted in a award to the state this week to urge officers to act faster to address the issue The GoFundMe benefit event dubbed Tell Governor Polis to Clear Colorado s Rape Kit Backlog raised more than Organizer Kelsey Harbert announced she is working with different county crime labs to disperse the remaining money to speed up the processing of locally held exams commonly known as rape kits She thanked the donors for helping with this awful issue that hundreds of survivors and their loved ones are being affected by daily The donation which won t clear the backlog by itself is largely symbolic The Colorado Bureau of Review s plan as seen in a record issued in February after the backlog was publicized involves outsourcing kits at an estimated cost of per kit The charity event represents district pressure for the agency to act As of May the CBI had more than kits in the backlog Seeing so a multitude of strangers donate and volunteer to help us spread the word reminded me that not everyone places politics over people Harbert wrote in an email Bulk people recognize the inhumanity of this dilemma and share our sense of urgency to address it even if the Governor and his administration do not In a announcement Friday the CBI commented it sincerely appreciates the donations towards a goal of reducing the sex assault evidence kit backlog We recognize how pivotal this is to casualties Harbert who ran the charity event with survivor Angelique Perrin estimates the donation will pay for the CBI to process six exams in-house or for three to be sent to an outside lab for processing She disclosed state leaders are assigning the money a tracking number to ensure it s used to process the kits She and Perrin plan to continue the fundraising event until the state has cleared its backlog Leaders with the CBI and the Colorado Department of Community Safety substantiated in January that sexual assault casualties were waiting an expected -plus days for the state to process their kits But the society acknowledgement came only after a survivor Miranda Gordon testified to having waited more than days for her own kit to be processed Representatives revealed the backlog started to build in but it exploded when the Missy Yvonne Woods tampering outrage was discovered in late prompting the retesting of old DNA samples CBI personnel had expected to have the turnaround time for processing kits down to days the state s goal by spring But on Friday Deputy Director Lance Allen reported the agency was on pace to hit that goal by the end of Related Articles Denver -year-old missing since early June Colorado state senator raises questions in death inspection of CU Boulder participant Colorado Gov Jared Polis signs law creating rape kit oversight board setting -day goal for processing Missing -year-old girl last seen at Arvada rail station Missing Lakewood teen revealed safe Thanks to this donation and the million dollars requested by Gov Jared Polis and allocated by Colorado lawmakers the CBI expects to start reducing the backlog next month and cut the turnaround time in half by this time next year Allen explained in the CBI s declaration He was referring to what was left of money that had been earmarked for the processing of sexual assault forensic exams Lawmakers in the latest session gave the CBI more time to spend that money through mid- Department agents plan to outsource kits over the next year to speed up processing During this year s session lawmakers repeatedly criticized the CBI and the department for their handling of the issue The CBI is part of the department which falls under Polis purview Legislators also passed several laws signed by Polis to add oversight and accountability for the processing of the exams Harbert regularly testified and advocated for the measures One of the new laws Senate Bill will create a new review board in the Colorado Attorney General s Office along with other oversight measures Polis signed the law in early June calling the backlog exclusively unacceptable That law was named after Gordon Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter The Spot