Portland police investigator discusses lessons learned by clearing rape kit backlog

PORTLAND, Ore. (KGW) — A program vital to clearing the rape kit backlog — and finding justice for victims of sexual assault — will come to an end in Portland this fall.

The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) got millions in federal funding to clear the backlog of untested kits in 2015, and cleared the backlog by late 2018. PPB’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Investigator Matt Irvine said that was the first important step in a process to get justice for the survivors of this abuse.

“We started getting the first DNA results back and we began to take a look at the underlying cases, reach out to victims, determine if they wanted their cases to proceed,” Irvine said. “And if the evidence and the law allowed us to do that, then we started investigating cases, we started prosecuting cases.”

More than 20 years ago, Irvine began working sexual assault cases in Los Angeles County. He said a lot has changed since then when it comes to investigating these cases.

“We had so many bad ideas about sexual assault,” he said. “We were doing our best in good faith but it was just a lot that we didn’t understand.”

Clearing PPB’s backlog of untested kits led to reopened cases, arrests and 12 convictions. Detectives said five cases are still pending trial and two investigations are currently active.

One of the latest guilty pleas was from Frank Hall, Jr. Last month, he was sentenced to 18 years behind bars for multiple rapes stretching back 10 years,  involving two victims.

“I think that it was a good step for them towards healing,” Irvine said. “I talked to both of them since the plea and it’s a step towards trying to be whole again.”

Submitting a sexual assault kit is an invasive process, one that can further traumatize survivors.

“These are folks who didn’t think that anybody would ever come back to them. They thought their cases were cold and gone, and frankly, we could’ve done a better job by them a decade ago,” Irvine said, “And they nonetheless trusted us and took a chance that we would do something differently and things will turn out better this time.”

Irvine said the dedication to clearing the backlog and seeing the cases through until the end has helped everyone involved when investigating these crimes, from patrol officers and detectives, to victim advocates and prosecutors.

Though the SAKI project will end, and the grant money will run out this fall, Irvine said it permanently reshaped the process for the better.

“We used to look at things like mental illness, addiction, criminal involvement and homelessness as things that somehow made the victims more culpable in what happened to them,” Irving said. “What we understand now is it just makes them more vulnerable and the people that prey on these folks, they know that.

“The advantage of having looked at something like 2,500 cases now, is that we have learned a lot about how better to serve victims of sexual assault and bring accountability to offenders.”

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