By Mario Garcia, Kristen Powers and Jessica Hopper
Rock Center
Wayne County, Mich., Prosecutor Kym Worthy has seen her share of grisly crime, but even she was shocked by a discovery in 2009 at a former police storage warehouse. There, stacks of dusty boxes were found on the shelves of the warehouse. The boxes contained thousands of untested rape kits, some decades old.
“What we were potentially looking at, at that time, was over 10,000 rape kits, representing over 10,000 cases where women had reported, whose lives and what had happened to them was sitting on a shelf and nobody cared. I was shocked, and I think I was kind of stunned -- and not too much stuns me,” Worthy told Kate Snow in an interview that aired Friday on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Worthy and her team would ultimately discover 11,303 untested kits. Rape kits are what hospitals use to collect DNA evidence from a victim in hopes that police can test it and identify a rapist. Victims have to undergo a thorough exam that can take hours. The DNA evidence is often the most important evidence used to convict in a rape case.
“To know that we had all of these potential victims sitting out there, all of them, mostly women, and nothing had been done, was just truly appalling,” Worthy said.
She is spearheading the fight to correct the injustice. Worthy said that what’s happening in her city is happening across the country. From Chicago to Los Angeles to Houston, cities are grappling with thousands of untested rape kits. Through a national grant, Worthy is attempting to set a protocol for how other states tackle backlogged rape kits.
To Learn More About the Detroit Rape Kit Initiative, Click Here to Visit the Detroit Crime Commission
The daughter of a West Point graduate, Worthy says she has always felt a sense of justice and morality. As a lawyer, she’s fearlessly sought justice, taking on high-profile cases including the corruption case against former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. But perhaps her own traumatic experience has contributed to her drive. Worthy says that she was sexually assaulted while in law school but did not report her case.
Courtesy of Kym Worthy
Kym Worthy at her law school graduation.
“This may sound strange, but I think what happened to me in law school happened for a reason and kind of led me into what I’m doing now. I always felt that way. And I always felt that that was a part of what made me a very good prosecutor, and certainly that is part of everything that I do. But it wasn’t the driving force,” she said.
Worthy said her experience allows her to better identify with the women whose cases were left untouched for years, but ultimately her time as a prosecutor during Detroit’s tumultuous last decade sparked her determination. Over the past decade, Detroit has dealt with a high crime rate, budget woes and corruption in both the police force and former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's office.
“The fact that I was the first female assistant of [an] elected prosecutor here, the fact that I had been prosecuting rapes for 11 years, off and on for 11 years, and presided over many criminal sexual assault trials as well, as a judge, and then to see this happen in Wayne County, a county where we already have a crime problem that’s out of control, and then to have, to add this on top of the issues we had with the Detroit crime lab, it was just a little much. And that makes you even madder,” Worthy said.
WATCH: Detroit prosecutor vows justice after neglected rape kits found
Worthy’s journey to reverse Detroit’s backlog began in August 2009, when she got a call from then-Assistant Prosecutor Rob Spada. Spada had just taken a tour of a downtown Detroit warehouse used as an overflow storage facility by the police. At the time, the system for processing evidence was in disarray and Spada had been called in to help police figure out how to catalog and sort what they had. As Spada walked through the warehouse covered with graffiti and surrounded by barbed wire, he stumbled upon rows of boxes.
“I saw numerous racks with cardboard boxes, and they told me at that point those were rape kits. I immediately asked the representatives were they tested rape kits or untested rape kits. And at that point, they said, ‘We don’t know,’” Spada said.
Some of the boxes were opened and exposed to the elements of the musty, warm warehouse. He immediately called his boss, Prosecutor Worthy.
“You would think that with that discovery, everybody would be outraged, but it seemed that this office was the only one,” Worthy said.
Worthy took action because she says she got little support from the police chief at the time. Worthy says the police chief at the time promised an internal review, but she didn’t think that was enough.
She found volunteers on her staff to start sifting through the rape kits trying to match each one with a victim using old, handwritten police logbooks.
“We were literally blowing off dust and dirt off of those books so we can open them up and see if we can find any information in these books that would match the rape kit,” Worthy said. “My prosecutors that are overworked, underpaid and have too much to do volunteered on their own time because we were all concerned about this issue.”
So far, 600 kits have been tested, and investigators say that they have discovered evidence of 21 serial rapists. Grant money funded the testing of those kits. Worthy said it costs on average between $1,200 and $1,500 to get each kit tested. People have wanted to donate money to help get kits tested, but the prosecutor’s office cannot solicit or collect funds. But now a non-profit organization, the Detroit Crime Commission, has set up a fund and will manage it for the purpose of accepting donations and using those funds to help pay to get kits tested.
Some of the kits tested have revealed sobering results. One kit from 2002 revealed DNA belonging to a man who was in prison for the murder of three women. The murders had been committed during the seven years the rape kit sat on a warehouse shelf.
Inspector Marlon Wilson and Sgt. Marvin Jones are currently in charge of the Detroit Police Department’s sex crimes unit. Since neither police officer was in charge when the rape kits ended up in the warehouse, they were reticent to say whether the police department failed by letting the kits go untested.
“Unfortunately at that time when those rape kits were untested, I was not part of the sex crimes unit, so I really can’t say,” Wilson said.
The Detroit Police department says that they completed an internal review in 2009. NBC News filed an official request for records of any internal investigation, and two months later we received an eight page document. In it, the police say once they became aware of the situation in the warehouse, they randomly pulled 36 of the stored rape kits and found there were “justifiable reasons” for not testing them. Those reasons, police say, include victims who refused to prosecute or were uncooperative and assailants who pleaded guilty to lesser charges. When NBC News showed the report to Worthy, she questioned its validity.
“Their reasons were just made-up reasons as to why there should be no investigation,” Worthy said.
Worthy says the newest Detroit Police Chief along with Inspector Wilson and Sgt. Jones have been very cooperative in the effort to now test every rape kit.
“I’m going to make sure that every sexual assault kit that comes through sex crimes is tested,” Sgt. Jones pledged.
“We don’t treat them as 11,000 rape kits. We’re looking at each one individually,” Wilson said.
NBC News
Audrey Polk's rape kit sat untested for over a decade.
One of the more than 11,000 kits discovered in the warehouse belonged to Audrey Polk.
“I feel like someone’s paid attention now, and it makes me feel a little better. And to those who shut the doors, kept putting boxes, kits on [shelves], shame on them all, shame on them,” said rape survivor Polk.
A mom of two, she was raped in February 1997 in an attack that began while she lay in bed sleeping with her infant daughter and 6-year-old son.
“What woke me up was his weight on top of me. I was horrified,” Polk said. “He had a gun. I know that. He did cover my eyes eventually. I didn’t see him, you know. It was dark.”
After the attack, she immediately called the police, and went to the hospital where evidence was collected from her.
“I had no choice. That was the only way I could ever have a way of, you know, getting this person off the street,” said Polk of the invasive exam.
Polk initially made several calls to the police about her case. She said she got little information and eventually stopped calling. The rape continued to haunt her and her children. Her son had trouble with his anger and had problems at school.
“It makes me tear up now because I know what he’s gone through and his anger, how his life was interrupted and he was cheated out of a normal childhood, you know. That’s not fair,” said an emotional Polk.
Polk, herself, had trouble spending the night alone. Fourteen years after the attack that altered her and her family’s life forever, she received a knock on the door from a Wayne County assistant prosecutor.
“I opened the door, and I said, ‘Ma’am, I’ve never done anything wrong in my life,’ and she goes, ‘No, we know who raped you 14 years ago.’ And I’m looking at her, like, are you really serious?” Polk said. “And the first thing she said, ‘Well, do you still want to prosecute?’ And I said, ‘Certainly, absolutely, yes, I do.’”
Polk’s assailant was found guilty and sentenced to up to 60 years in prison.
“I hope, more than anything, it gives hope to those women who were ignored that we are working each and every day to try to fix things, and not every case is going to be prosecutable, but we’re going to make sure that we have, we can prosecute as many as we can,” Worthy said.
Editor’s note: Kate Snow’s full report airs Friday, Feb. 15 at 10 p.m. ET/9 CT on NBC’s Rock Center with Brian Williams.
To donate to the Detroit Crime Commission, click here. To specify that your funds go to the testing of rape kits, be sure to click the "add special instructions" section and specify that the funds go to the "Wayne County Rape Kit Initiative."
Leave a Comment:
The police "brotherhood" spends billions each year prosecuting marijuana and illegal aliens and ignores rapists. Why does it take special grant money to do this? Why not pull everyone off narcotics and vice and start prosecuting all these rapists one by one? Divert the money President Obama. Divert the money and save women from these thugs in the future. If they get away with it once, they do it again and again. Divert the money.
Bananna's -
Pull all the street cops you want. You do realize that it takes significant training to perform these tests, yes?
Do you have any idea of what Detroit's financial situation is? That is why a special federal grant is needed. They have spent far more than they take in for way too many years.
just like America -- Detroit has been overrun by dems & unions that's why they are in deep crap.
Still waiting on Mr. Obama's response to that Detroit Councilwoman who stated:
"We elected you now it is time to BRING HOME THE BACON."
That is why women should arm themselves. This is their best chance for justice.
This kind of Ilk has ruined societies..Remember when they were digging up graves..
Quit blaming budgets and unions for this budget girl and mpa. This is "brotherhood" hubris to the detriment of females. Nothing more. You'll find this all over the country not just Detroit. And Max if women arm themselves, they'll be prosecuted for killing their rapists in this man dominant society of ours. They'll prosecute a woman who kills her abusive husband in a second but not a rapist. They'll prosecute a prostitute in a second but not the john. You know its true. Statistics prove it. So either contribute something useful to this by calling your senator or representative or the white house and demand immediate action or STFU.
Ummm HUH??!!! YA!! I'm sure that's EXACTLY what caused this problem!! I suppose it's their fault that a small meteor struck Siberia yesterday too right?!!
*rolling eyes*
mpa, if it were a crime happening to men at these kinds of numbers you can bet they'd find the money somewhere!
You do realize that many of the rapists are illegal aliens. And the reason we dont have more money is we spend too much on illegals.
And actually Ana, stats prove exactly what you say to be incorrect.
Bananna... cry me a river..."This is "brotherhood" hubris to the detriment of females"
Do you have ANY idea how many female cops are on the DPD? Why do you always have to start that "war on women" crap?
You people always scream "equality", but in reality you want special treatment. You've no idea who did what in this case, so just stop the "poor little vicim" chant. It's f'd up, but you've no idea what happend.
familyjool... why the " if it were a crime happening to men at these kinds of numbers you can bet they'd find the money somewhere!" ?
There is no war on women... there is no women as second class citizens. That's just made up crap you females like to portrait in order to get special treatment. Men have always went above and beyond to protect females. Men in the US have always sacrificed more to protect women that women have ever done for men, or themselves.
Enough of the vicim card BS. Time for you women to put on the big girl pants and start doing your share.
More men are raped in the US than women if you include prison rape. Stop with made up unjustices. This is why people call you women femnazis.
@Max^108 -- Audrey Polk was in bed asleep with her 2 children when she was attacked. Can you explain to me how being armed would have changed her situation, when she awakened to find her attacker already on top of her? Are women supposed to permanently affix a weapon to themselves "just in case?" Should they sleep with one eye open, just so they can be ready to fire? Instead, why don't we change society's attitudes toward women? Why don't we change society's attitudes about violence? Let's start with the root causes, and work our way up!
What wrong with prosecuting people who break the law (either being illegal or smoking marijuana)?? That's what the "brotherhood" does. What's wrong with them going after all narcotic and vice crimes? You don't get to pick and choose which crime is worse...
Dotties girl obviously hasn't been paying attention to the news if she thinks Michigan is a forced-union state, Republicans already changed that. I do not agree with your logic, but if we use it and assume that union status and political party are responsible for not prosecuting rapists, then it would be the Right To Work Law and Republicans to blame. At least get your facts straight and make sure your scapegoat actually exists in the state before posting it, sigh. The truth is that the majority of Michigan's politicians are Republican, in fact they have a super majority and will be able to pass whatever bills they want until 2014. And not surprisingly Dotties girl seems to lack critical thinking skills. Here is your first critical thinking lesson Dotties girl, how many states are forced-union states? How many states have a majority of democrat politicians? Is not prosecuting rapes a problem in those states too?
How about if we give handguns to all the women in Detroit so they can take care of business themselves?
So we should tell men not to rape or harm women. What an original thought. Oh wait, we've heard it since we were young children. Some men will still do it no matter what. Thus the need for a gun.
Oh good, the "sexism is a myth" people are already here. Color me surprised. Inequalities toward women are still alive and well. And pretending that they didn't happen in the past puts you on about the level of a Holocaust denier. There are also inequalities directed at men as a direct result of the sexist attitudes that remain in our society. If people would stop pretending that everything is hunky dory and actually start addressing these issues -- like the fact that rape victims (men or women) are still often blamed for what happens to them and are treated worse than the alleged offenders--maybe then something could be done.
riverboy,
You realize the article is about Detroit right? Not Michigan as a whole? Just like the governor of California does not spend all his time on LA. Dems have destroyed Detroit. A little less ignorance is good for you.
Siobhan,
No one denies that there is sexism. But people dont want to believe things have gotten better and there are inequalities on both sides. Once we see femnazi's take up an issue for males, we'll listen to their drivel more.
MrBurns, you do realize how state law works right? If a state passes the Right to Work Bill, all counties must obey it, much like federal law works according to the constitution. What would be the point of passing a state bill if it didn't apply to the cities in that state? Again I propose my question, if the whole country is overrun by Democrats and Unions, why is this only a problem in Detroit? Logic seems to go in one ear and out the other of the extreme right. Nice comment about my ignorance, but it looks as if yours is showing.
@Sadden American....
You sadden this American, for sure. Your ideas aren't right. They aren't even wrong.
Also, you can't spell. I'm pretty sure you meant "saddenED American." It doesn't bode well for your intellect. But your every post demonstrates that.
Let me help you dear riverboy since education is not your strong suit.
When did I say the country is overrun by democrats and unions? Im simply talking about Detroit. The right to work law was passed just a little bit ago. In fact it was December 11th to be exact. So Detroit had decades to be dragged through the mud by unions and bankrupted. I find it funny that you think that a law that was just recently passed and is going through court proceedings is the cause of decades old problems. Counting, and knowing how to tell time is not your strong suit is it? Unions slowly choke the life out of many cities. That is why we are seeing many states do something about it. And it is only a real problem when they are public unions. Money goes to them instead of important things like prosecuting rape. Throughout the country, the cities going bankrupt are mostly ones that were run by libs and gave huge hand outs to unions. I live in Cali, and I see it going on in many cities. Some survive due to the richness of the area, or specific benefits. IE, LA has Hollywood, San Fran has the port (LA does too). So yes, liberal policies and unions are bankrupting many cities. And it is quite easy to see.
So please learn something before you talk again. Talking to a middle schooler is only fun for so long.
Reading these comments I can agree with one thing, get off the case of the pot smokers in society and worry more about injustices like this. Priorities are off in this country. How much money has been spent on prosecuting potheads that could have been used to get these violent criminals off the street? All because it's easier to deal with a dumb stoner than it is to do real police work.
Just a small part of a much bigger opinion.
You know I read the entire article twice. I thought it was about. Police gathering evidence and then not testing the evidence, identfying the criminal, arresting him, going to trial, and then if convicted prison. Turns out the article was about unions, Democrats, feminism, gun rights, prison rape (?)etc etc etc. So sad. My question is simply this. Why won't those who failed the public, failed to get the testing done and system working be prosecuted.
I think I just heard the thud of Detroit hitting rock bottom.
And what, prey tell, didn't you agree with? Usually, when someone has a different or opposite view, they post that view. Instead, you just "blah blah blah"...
Love how people post on here just to see their name on the web. Good job KY...
My reply was directly to Dotties girl, she stated that this was happening because "just like America -- Detroit has been overrun by dems & unions that's why they are in deep crap." I don't believe Republicans, Democrats, or unions are responsible for this in any way shape or form, just bad oversight by everyone involved in the justice process regardless of political party. I am aware of the law being passed recently, in fact I said so in my first post. You think state money funds unions, apparently education isn't your strong suit. States do not create support or maintain unions, they just decided if you are required or not required to join them for certain professions. States do not fund unions, union dues do. This discussion can't even continue if you are so misinformed that you think that. I love how you throw tons of insults around, I usually don't but I will in response to your initiation, the only reason "boy" is in my screen name is because it was my name on AoL 30 years ago. Nice assumption but I'm not a middle schooler, I guess you made an ass out of yourself again.
He might be aiming at the wrong people, but I do think his original point is correct. Let's tax marijuana, and go after violent criminals, people like these rapists.
It sickens me to think that they were emboldened by having got away with, and probably did it again.
You do realize, don't you, that a gun cannot stop a bullet? Perhaps you need this explained to you. If two men accost a woman in the middle of the night and she pulls a gun out on them, do you suppose they are going to grin and chuckle and walk away? Or do you suppose they are going to stalk her and try to shoot her in the back later?
I am not saying that they are going to succeed; just that having a gun by no means guarantees or improves her safety. Her only real chance is to shoot them on the spot. But then, do YOU want to be the guy walking home and gets shot by some woman who got scared and made a mistake about your intentions, or mistook you for someone else in the darkness?
The "original thought" is to get men and women to not end up in such situations. As a nation, we do not need to escalate things to the point where we are all armed to the teeth.
One of the things that can stop a good guy with a gun is a bad guy with a gun.
riverboy,
I did not go off your screen name to assume you were in middle school. I went off of your apparent educational level. You brought up right to work like it has any impact on this what so ever. What you dont realize is that it has not affected Detroit yet.
And poor boy, I studied economics and actually took a class on unions specifically from a rather liberal university, UCLA, so I know a bit more about this subject that you. States fund public unions. Notice how in my last post I said public unions. There are private and public unions. Private unions are unions that are set up in the public workforce. Like carpenters, truckers, etc. They unionize to collectively bargain. They support themselves like you said, through union dues. Now some states decide people should be forced to join them because unions control many liberal politicians, but that subject does not matter in this discussion. No, this deals with public unions. Public unions are unions for public employees, like teachers, fire fighters, etc. By definition of how unions get paid, they get union dues from the states, because the states pay the workers. Now dear boy, this is the distinction that shows you know nothing of which you speak. When unions get money from the state, then use that money in order to legislate and support politicians who support them, they are able to vote out politicians who dont bend to their whim. So if you are a teacher, you are forced to join the public union, then whether you are republican or democrat, your dues goes towards their campaigns to get liberals elected. These liberals turn around and give more benefits and wages to employees, who get more money in union dues, and support them with more money. This is why many feel public unions are unconstitutional and how the feedback effect give unions more money, keeps liberals in power, and drains a city.
So yes, by definition public unions are funded by the states.
You once again prove your ignorance on the subject.
As bad as it is for these women, certain idiots here have got to bring politics and President Obama into it.
People like you'll who have to bring politics and President Obama into this are past pathetic!!
Byron Raum,
Why do you respond if you have no idea what you are talking about? They dont try to go and shoot her in the back later. In almost 90% of cases, a gun simply has to be flashed for the perps to run away. Countless studies and interviews have concluded that perps go after the easy target. If they think that the woman is packing, they'll move onto a victim who is not. They arent going to risk their lives because most of them are cowards. Criminals themselves have said this, and many concealed carry have attested this. Having a gun greatly improves her safety. Gun crime and violent crime decrease in areas with concealed carry. Women carrying a gun are less likely to become victims, and most dont have to shoot in the first place. Please educate yourself on the matter. Ignorant liberals are trying to win a debate with absolutely no facts and a bunch of faulty logic. This only leads to a more dangerous society.
By your logic, corporate giving to politicians, where the corporation is publicaly held, forces shareholders in the same way, even liberal shareholders.
And by your logic, corporate giving is also unconstitutional and every ill that you have just enumerated also derives in the same way from corporate giving - in fact, the number of our Federal government's employees hasn't varied that much over the last 50 years. Rather, we have armies of corporate contractors, all of whom have lobbyists that make sure that the aggregate of corporate America does well at the expense of the taxpayer.
So spare us your sneering.
I am part of a public union, I am in Cali like you, no issues here with the city dying or unprosecuted rapes. And you say I don't pay union dues? Well this is news to me, I must be misunderstanding my pay statement or the taxes I file every year. I guess you would know, you learned so in college, I r went to one of dem things 2, for six years in fact. And the absolutely hillarious part about all this is that, did you ever stop to think that this guy is commenting on unions may actually know something about unions? Let's see, I'm commenting on unions, I have a public job where I have access to a computer so I'm not a utility worker related proffession, maybe just maybe my proffession has to do with public unions. This high and mighty attitude of what you learned in college is cracking me up, I've been living what you learned in college for the last 19 years. No unions are not funded by states. It's friday, I'm off in 30 and you obviously won't separate your delusions from reality so I am exiting this discussion. My ignorance will be proven when you use a fact to do it, have a great weekend.
I don't really know what disgusts me more, the fact that 11000+ rapes went untested or the fact that there were 11000+ rapes during the stated timeframe. Obviously the rapes themselves were horrific but the fact that many someones could leave these test kits sitting, untested for so long should frighten us all.
I know Detroit has serious financial problems and from things I've seen on television the city commissioners/council (or whatever they are called there) should be ashamed of themselves for shortchanging the PD to the point they were unable to properly fund their lab. In many ways it seems like they are more concerned about what they can bring home to their districts than they are concerned about governing. Kinda seems like it might be a prequel to the dysfunction the US Congress is bringing about.
I am rather curious about this logic. Why is it necessary for her gun to be concealed? Why doesn't she just carry a machine gun around on her arm?
Since you are so gung ho about statistics, the simple fact is that the level of gun violence is directly proportional to the laxity of gun laws. The more relaxed the gun laws, the more gun violence and gun accidents. This is true at both the state and the country level. Check out the numbers for yourself. Check out what gun violence is like in Louisiana vs California, or the US vs the UK or Japan.
And when they find that EVERY potential victim is armed? What do you think happens? When a predator is unable to find easy prey, it starts to prey on the tougher target. And they will just arm themselves to be able to take out the tougher targets. Hence why I said:
I note you didn't also bother to address the case of what happens if the woman makes a mistake about YOU - what if she mistakes you for a perp, while you are just walking home?
"Ignorant" and "liberal" are contradictory terms.
Now I see riverboy, you are part of the problem. Public unions are a huge problem in Cali, and when we tried to stop your money grab, you spent tens of millions fighting prop 32 so you can still have say in the political sphere. What city do you work in? Unions have bankrupted a couple of them, and is pushing LA (where Im from) into tremendous debt.
And dude, how blind can you be. The money that is taken from your check without your choice comes from the state. So the state is funding your union through the money that they themselves are paying into. How is the state "withholding" money from your check and giving it to the union not funding the union? i see now that you are not ignorant, but rather part of the problem and you dont want to see change because that would mean you cant keep bleeding the city dry. You're disgusting.
Byron Raum, this may surprise you, but I am against corporations being allowed to do this for that very reason. And many corporations give their money to dems. So Im not sneering. I agree that corporations shouldnt be allowed to do this, same as unions. I would get rid of public unions and corporate finance of politicians. The stark difference is in private unions, the members cant get rid of their boss and vote in a new one to give them even more. Public unions can and do do this, and that is why they are a bigger drain on a city. So spare me your ignorance.
Byron Raum,
Yet again, what you say is false, completely. There has been no proof whatsoever, that shows any correlation between lax gun laws and more crime. None, looking at the states, red and blue states are quite mixed in gun violence with blue states tilting to having more gun violence. And the bad cities that have most of the crime in states like Louisiana are mostly liberal run states. Look at what tops the list. DC, which has very strict gun laws. Chicago too, and LA. Gun laws have never proven to decrease crime. And in case you didnt know, which obviously you dont, the UK has a higher level of violent crime than the US. Australia too. Guns stop more than just gun crimes, thats why you have to distort facts and stats to fit what you want. And guns are used in self defense way more than in violent crime. Even Bill Clinton's study showed they are used an estimated 1.5 million times a year in self defense. Again, criminals go after easy targets. If they are unsure which one is the easy target they dont commit crime as much. And Im sure there will be enough spineless libs to remain easy targets for criminals. And I did address it in that the woman doesnt have to shoot you, and she should wait to be attacked. I dont see what point you are trying to make.
You prove that liberal and ignorant go hand in hand.
I notice that you are very careful to not address the difference between gun violence in the US and gun violence in the UK. You are also very careful NOT to answer my question about what happens if the woman carrying a gun makes a mistake about YOUR intentions?
But if you want to restrict the discussion to just gun laws with US states: you can find more information here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/07/23/six-facts-about-guns-violence-and-gun-control/ ; specifically, look at point 5, from which I quote:
and
That pretty much clinches the argument to anyone who is capable of reading.
This is the typical response of a so-called "conservative." Make a random statement, offer a really poor solution for a problem, one that is based on advancing a personal agenda and has nothing to do with the problem at hand. Then when someone else points out the problems with your proposed solution, attack them personally, while at the same time ignoring half of the points they make.
I think maybe I will talk to Smith and Wesson about developing a two shot chastity belt for my daughter, that way some @!$%# can't take it away and use it against her. But she can surely defend herself. She will just need a conceal and carry permit. Imagine the surprise on the face of an attacker when his junk gets shot off by a vajj.
I would suggest that the reason many corporations give their money to Democrats is simply due to insurance and also the reason why Democrats often vote indistinguishably from Republicans on many of these semi-corrupt matters. I am also sure that there are many Republicans who vote their conscience and not their contribution check.
The good news is that Mr Rove and the NRA both proved, during the last election that money does not equal votes, much to everyone's surprise, completely against conventional thinking.
See? It's not just Sheriff Joe!
I guess you will have to blame this on racism in Michigan or admit you are cherry pickers!
It's bull**** ignorant comments like these, in addition to the injustices described in this article, that causes "femnazis" to exist in the first place. You proclaim that women have nothing to worry about and accuse the ENTIRE gender (as opposed to just a small part of it) of wanting special treatment, and then proceed to make comments or use words that imply that you hate women and/or that they're inferior. That negativity in turn breeds the femnazis, and therefore breeds more ignorance into society. Way to go above and beyond.
Similar thing with rape victims who have suffered as a result of this particular case of negligence and similar ones all over the globe. The female victims were ignored when they needed help in finding their male (although it's possible some were female) attackers. They feel betrayed by any men on the police force, as well as their fellow females who are also on the force. The anger and betrayal eats at them until they finally snap and decide to take down men for abandoning them. Of course, you could argue the same with male rape victims, just with the gender hate reversed.
Now this is just insulting. You have a lot of nerve to say that considering that the victim mentioned in the article DID "do her share" and actively pursued trying to find the piece of **** who raped her. What was her reward? Nothing. She got ignored and suffered for over a decade. I guess wearing her "big girl pants" REALLY paid off, huh?
This whole thing is just a real sad situation. I hope most if not all of these victims are finally able to receive justice.
MrBurns,
Your response to me immediately falls flat given that I addressed that sexism affects both men and women negatively. But, nice attempt at a straw man. By the way, equality feminism believes in breaking down sexist attitudes and discrimination for both men and women. So, I guess that means you'll be listening to the "feminazi drivel" a bit more then, right?
Your understanding of unions is just as limited as your understanding of feminism. Things are a bit more complex than "unions are bad!"
And there are actually several studies that show that the mere presence of guns actually increases aggressive behavior. It's called the weapons effect. Feel free to look it up.
So, you're about 0 and 3 on your understanding of the topics you're arguing about. Not that that suprises me. The internet is rife with people who have decided they are an expert on topics of which they know little about.
It is so smart of those righties here, they have little to no respect for women. How can any woman vote for a GOP candidate. Just make me sad to see angry white guys hatting women and taking constitutional rights away due to sex. I guess that constitution says "all men are created equal" and they believe that and their second amendment but they forget there is a lot more to it. I vote we take all guns away from angry white men.
Oh, another one you got wrong there MrBurns.. there's no data to support your claim that most rapists are illegal immigrants. In fact, most rapists are people the victim knows. So, unless you're going to claim that most people are close with illegal immigrants, you are again categorically wrong.
Normally I don't bother engaging in a debate with a person who makes apparent they are quite literally ignorant of the topics under the debate, but your comments are so egregiously incorrect I just couldn't pass them up.
Swallow456789
Sorry, I have to do it. Talking about respect for women with a name like that? J/K
And yet the nation wonders why Detroit is such a cesspool of crime...maybe they should be asking the police and local legislators what happened to all the money charged for the kits?
Next
I am sure that Detroit is not the only (major) city that has buried these rape kits, and it is appalling to think about. I hope the prosecutor seeks "justice to the victims" by filing charges against those who buried these kits in the warehouse!
It is unconscionable that this could happen. A police department that could allow this to happen should be disbanded from the top down, and replaced with people that actually give a sh!t about human lives.
Complete, utter travesty. How far we as a society and people have fallen, when sh!t like this happens. Disgusting.
I'm part of the "brotherhood" you so casually disparage. We do the best we can with very limited resources. I don't know what you think a DNA test entails, but it's not something I can just set up on my desk and do. It has to be sent to a lab, at a cost of $1200-$1500 each (around $15 million just to process the kits in that one warehouse in Detroit), according to the article, which is about right.
Don't blame us because the legislature wants to build more monuments to themselves and underfund our crime labs. Don't blame drug prosecutions, either, it takes just as long to get drug test results. I've actually had to dismiss drug cases before because the crime lab took so long to process the evidence the case prescribed (statute of limitations ran out). This situation is obviously messed up, but we can't fix it ourselves. We need the legislatures to give us more money. The explosion in crime lab technology has not been matched by an increase in funding. I can run fingerprints in 30 seconds, but I'm lucky to get a DNA test back in 3 months.
Just like the medical industry, newer technology means better service but higher costs. Unlike the medical industry, the crime labs operate on fixed budgets, fixed by politicians. Don't blame your police and prosecutors, blame the guys who write the checks, or rather the guys don't write big enough checks.
I'm so sick of hearing this whining in the blogosphere about how we "ignore rapists" and don't care about women. We devote special departments to handling sex crimes, just like we do homicides and other serious crimes. It is true that in the past there were a lot of eye-rollers and chauvinists who made it tough on rape victims, but that is ancient history. Walk into any police station today and say you want to report a rape, and you will see the machine spring to life. We can't change the past, but we are changing the future. We can't do it without the funding, though, so let your legislators know you demand that they spend the money to let us protect you.
Great news for rapists and would-be rapists. I can hardly believe this story. So wrong, just so terribly wrong.
I agree with the post above - stating the waste of time on NON-violent 'crime' such as smoking pot vs. using scarce resources capturing perpetrators of violent crime.
Let them smoke weed. It's something like being gay . . . Who gives a d*mn what private citizens do on their own time?
Free law enforcement to go after violent criminals PLEASE.
If only AT LEAST 2% of those claims were not "false". Some suggest the numbers of false claims may be as high as 40%, but most agree that at least 2% to 8% of all rape claims are false. If only women were not willing to lie about something that will f*** up a man's life just to get revenge or pay back. How many men lie to get their old lady thrown in jail?
If only 1/2 to 2/3s of women if a remember right did not fantasize about being man handled (raped) by some muscle bound stud from a romance novel? How stupid can you be to believe all that BS that some men try to fill your head with? I would feel sorry for you if many of you lied a little less and actually told the "whole" truth instead of this glammed up, sugarcoated, worried about looks, FAKE CHIT, etc. that I always seems to get.
@AnaBanana "This is "brotherhood" hubris to the detriment of females. Nothing more. You'll find this all over the country not just Detroit. And Max if women arm themselves, they'll be prosecuted for killing their rapists in this man dominant society of ours. They'll prosecute a woman who kills her abusive husband in a second but not a rapist. They'll prosecute a prostitute in a second but not the john."
/sigh...and you wonder why people do not take you seriously. Want to talk about how ONE SIDED divorce court is, or how about child custody/support? Cry me a f***ing river you dumb b***h about the "brotherhood". Guess that is why they arrested the one guy after he murdered three other women. Damn why did they not catch him after the first murder? Maybe the f***ing police is short handed due to all the budget cuts? The question then would be even if he was arrested, caught, and placed in prison would he have STILL killed three women after he was released from jail?
Dead men tell no tales hate to break it to you. As long as you do not stab him X number of times, slit his throat, AND then shot him in the head you probably would do alright in court. Since as soon as you turn on the "waterworks" people start feeling sorry for you and give you special treatment. I wish I could get out of as many speeding tickets and fines as women do, some "brotherhood".
I wonder why they never bother arresting drug users most of the time, but always go after the DRUG DEALERS. Simple logic/math maybe femanazi? How many "johns" or drug "users" use/go to the SAME dealer or prostitute (ho)? By getting rid of the dealer/ho you stop more then 20 johns, users, people, etc.. How f***ing hard is that to understand?
And yes the kits should be tested, but it will cost them around $14,850,000 just to test those 11,000 kits not to mention to actually prosecute them all. Even over 10 years that is 1.485 million each and every year. I wonder if they have that kid of budget allotted for that? Maybe that is why they sat for so long? I do not know for sure, but I have my guesses and the "brotherhood" is not one of them.
@Byron Raum "I am rather curious about this logic. Why is it necessary for her gun to be concealed? Why doesn't she just carry a machine gun around on her arm?"
Yup your are a moron, at least on this subject. Gee let us see why she would not want to carry around a machine gun moron.
First, IF THEY SEE THE GUN THEY CAN TAKE IT FROM YOU. If they get their hands on your gun you may not be able to overpower a larger stronger male and be able to point the gun at them. They might take it from you since guns are not cheap or they might want a tool too. If you can surprise your attacker then you stand the best chance since they might have a false sense of confidence. They picked you to attack for a reason in the first place more then likely (easy target). That is why you keep your gun hidden while out in public moron. "Walk quietly and carry a big stick".
Second a standard semi-automatic rifle weighs at least 5 pounds to 7 pounds for a "light" rifle not including the weight of the ammo. How many women are going to carry that around with them all day moron? Many are willing to carry about a 5 pound bag of chit that makes them look good however (more likely to get raped). Carry your gun in your purse in not the best idea either imo since your purse is likely to get stolen or lost.
What planet do some of you women come from because it sure as hell is not Earth? "Reality" is "survival of the fittest". That "all men are created equal" stuff is because we men are willing to beat the crap out of each other, words do not mean chit. If one person "wins" and kills the other person WTF are you going to do about it if you are that dead person?
ANSWER ME, if you are f***ing dead WTF can you do? Maybe just maybe you should have taken the measures to ensure that you are the one that lives or at least "decides" if that other person gets to live or not. That is f***ing reality. Go out and look at nature, at your cute little cat or dog and wtf they do to survive. They sure as @!$%# are not vegetarians. Maybe if you did not live in some fantasy land where only nice things happen...if only. In reality it is the biggest, strongest, baddest mother f***ers that make the rules and decides who lives and dies. How are you going to get a man that outweighs you by 50 or 100 extra pounds (some of it muscle) to stop doing whatever he wants to you whenever he wants if you are all alone? It is only when a large group gets together can they single out those strong people (targets) and take them down. Simple f***ing logic.
Why do women not arm themselves with mace, tasers, take self defense classes, work out, etc.? Do you even lift or work out bro? How are you going to gain enough muscle to compete and be equal to men then? Oh you are more worried about how you look then how you function...I see and then expect me to do something about it, nice. But I thought you were a big girl and could take care of herself? How are you going to defend yourself when you are all alone from someone who will more then likely attack you from behind?
"But men should stop raping women" Ahh no chit. Just like we should not lie, cheat, steal, murder, etc. YET that stuff STILL happens even though we try to prevent it and to discourage people from doing it. Keep living in that fantasy world where nothing ever bad happens. Us men try to be protective of women, but women know best... "You don't control me. I will go out whenever I want with whoever I want, and there is nothing you can do to stop me." Even after we put a ring on that finger it is still the same chit, do not try to BS me. The reason that the other guy is being so nice to you, chasing after you, filling your head with BS is simple; HE WANTS TO STICK HIS DICK IN YOU AND WILL SAY AND DO ANYTHING TO DO IT. Some of us might even kill others just to get the opportunity to stick our dick in you as history has proven many times. It is nature. If not for men's willingness to chase after women humans would not survive, and yes sometimes we go to far.
I guess we have a dick problem just like we have a gun problem in this country huh? If we only got rid of all the dicks or limited their size/capacity we might have less rapes in this country, but we have absolutely no mental health problems now do we?
BTW three of my girlfriends over the years have claimed to be victims of rape. One was followed by a boy she knew and was raped. The other two however I would not exactly call "rape". They said "no", but laid there and let the guy keep going.
One told me she was in shock that the guy did not listen and could not believe it was happening to her. I asked her if she struggled at all, said "NO!", hit him, etc. and her reply was "no I just laid there"... It was also how her treated her afterwards too. Threw her a towel and told her to get the f*** out. I actually caught her chatting and emailing that same very guy a year or so later too, go figure.
I had a one girl that said "no", but it was not "NO!" so I kept going. She said no a couple more times and I was a little worried about it, but she still seemed into it. I did not throw a towel at her or say get out afterwards, we talked about it, and I called her the next day. It is a damn fine line to tread some days, even harder when you are a hormone filled teenager with a one track mind. "Yum yum I want some." I wonder why there are almost 7 billion humans on this planet again?
Tired you have NO clue about "no means no". If (or rather when) you end up in prison for your fantasy fueled assaults, don't blame the person you degraded who had the guts to put you there.
And, as to the rest of you posters, how about a "good for you" for the prosecutor who is going the extra mile to try to undo the negligence here that resulted in creeps like Tired getting away with it?!
SO glad there are people in this world who will put forth the extra effort and go the extra mile to make this world a better place, not $hit all over it!!!
Wow Tired-2176559, after that long long tirade, you just admitted to being a rapist.
It doesn't matter if she whispers no or screams it at the top of her lungs, no means no, you piece of human garbage!
So we should put rapists in prison to be raped by men? Who's your daddy? Karma calling.
I do hope someone can figure out who Tired is so that HE can be prosecuted for the rape confession he posted here!
To little, to late. Just another example of how the government is at work for you.
2009 ? 2009 ?
This is 2013....2013.....2013 !!!!
So, why did Mrs. Worth wait until now ?
Sheeesh, she must be expecting a FAST TRACK APPOINTMENT to the SCOTUS.
Yep......
She didn't wait that long, it took that long for it to become national news or you still wouldn't know about.
She didn't wait, you idiot, she and her staff started working on this in 2009; it's just being reported now. Didn't you notice that they prosecuted one of the rapists because of the evidence they found in one of these kits? It takes months to years for that to happen so obviously she started on this several years ago.
Best cure for rape is a 45ACP
Ido. You can't ever commend a Black person for doing the right thing, can you? Always need to put some negative slant, right? Just admit that you're a sour racist.
Ask the 11,000+ people who's rape kits are now being tested if they think it's "too little, too late". I really doubt they'll agree. It's never too late to get a monster off the street.
schmalk,
Have to bring the race card into everything eh?
Why do you even comment on articles that you don't read? You seem to be trolling for fodder for your nasty political views. Join a hate website and share your views with others of your kind. This is an interesting article about someone who is working to make things better. I applaud her.
"You can't ever commend a Black person for doing the right thing, can you?".... racist much?
If you had ever been raped, you wouldn't be able to say "too little, too late"..
Oh, yes, we can all tell how racist, sexist, and misogynist you are. You show it with every post.
No, I simply ask that people stop being racists or sexist. You want equality, then it starts with you.
Stop expecting preferential treatment because of your race, gender, sexual orientation, religion.
START contributing to the US and make it strong. Your constant hating of the US is just weakening our Country. It makes me sick.
@ Kynetick. sir don't waste energy trying to make sense of that jerk Sadden. there will always be slugs like him on both sides. Ms. Worthy cares and works to right a henious injustice done to many victms regardless of race.
WOW Craig... you trying to get a date with KY? You even read any of my posts??
I don't think I even inferred that Kim Worthy (She's married, BTW) did anything wrong or didn't do anything right. I don't even think my comments were directed towards what Worthy is doing in Detroit. Hell, she's the one that took down Kwame! We appalled her here in the "D"...
I bit of reading comprehension classes would help you…
...obviously, there are some of those unprosecuted rapists on this comment board right now because why else would you not be supportive of this woman and her cause? oh, that's right, I forgot....sucked up racist, uneducated white boys pouting because their slice of American pie isn't being just handed to them and they actually have to go work for it, like the rest of us. and it's all THIS woman's fault....um, yeah
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the "too little, too late" comment is referring to "government" taking action. Quite frankly, the only ones who could possibly be convicted from this "new" evidence are those who don't have very good attorney's. Let's face it, if you go through a warehouse where the boxes have been sitting for years and some are open collecting dust and mildew, etc., absolutely none of those boxes satisfy a chain of custody. No one knows who did what to them. So, from the standpoint of legal evidence, they should all be thrown out. From the standpoint of giving police notice as to who they should be on the lookout for, that's an entirely different story.
I'm certainly glad someone is willing to take this on. But, assuming the article is correct, that it costs $1,200 to $1,500 to test each kit, then it is easy to understand how cash strapped cities would put rape on the back burner. That being said, it is amusing that it always seems that the most liberal cities have the least money to help those most in need. The explanation is simple, a total failure of libs to understand economics. What happens in tough economic times? Those evil corporations lower prices to encourage buy and to keep the company alive and pay it's employees. The nice benevolent Government, on the other hand, raises taxes, thus making it harder on the taxpayers and drive those who are paying taxes away.
This is why there should not be a statute of limitation on rape crimes.
There should also be a Federal law that all rape kits in evidence have to be cleared by the end of a twelve month period.
DNA evidence has become the single most important part of our justice system and funding is needed to expand affordable lab work in that area on a nation wide basis.
Indigent defendants are discriminated against daily with analysis of DNA evidence being withheld from evidence .... because a court appointed attorney has to petition the judge hearing the case for his approval for funds to have DNA evidence analyzed. If the judge refuses to approve the funds for analysis and the defendant can't afford it himself, any DNA evidence that could possibly prove the innocence of the defendant goes untested and the defense is prohibited from even mentioning it in front of the jury.
If there is DNA evidence that can prove the guilt of the defendant, the State is allocated all the funds it needs for analysis.
And no one should have to spend 18 or 20 years in prison for a crime they didn't do just because the judge at their trial didn't want to spend the money for DNA analysis.
LOL...yea, right...it's all dem crackers that are out there raping women in Detroit
...thanks for the laugh
Outstanding. Kudos to this crew who would volunteer time to right injustice. Kudos to those who would give money to finance the testing.
Detroit is about bankrupt. I doubt if the police didn't care so much as they didn't have the resources. When you spend more than you have for a long time, you begin to have to make choices.
Oh please. Don't take the cop-out line that they "made hard choices". Someone was negligent and should be prosecuted. No excuses for this. It was someone's job to make sure it happened, and they didn't do their job.
The "negligence" seems to be pointing towards the Prosecutor's office.
Wait a minute.....SEE MY POST #2.1 above.
Yup they made hard choices because of limited resources so they stopped investigating crimes they felt were not as important. They were like "Hey its only rape, is that really even a crime?" They will still investigate "legitemate rapes" if they can find any.
Of course they had to make a choice because of limited resources, but the areas where they cut back are very telling about the mind set of procecutors there in Detroit and likely in our male dominated culture nationwide.
Sad part of this is now that they have dropped the ball on these cases, it seems likely that defense attorneys will have a field day with this and manage to get quite a few rapists off on technicalities.
Detroit women may as well start arming themselves cuz no one else is going to protect them. Of course the first time some woman puts a slug into some rapist I wonder if they will try her for murder.
Liberals will try her, conservatives wouldnt. Its not male dominated if women are part of the problem. But sure, make everything to be sexist or racist. That'll solve all your made up problems.
Post #2.1 - full of inaccuracies;why re-read it. She started in 2009. I will cost a minimum of 13 million dollars to check all of the rape kits. Two detectives and a bunch of prosecutors are working on it. They get tests done as the money becomes available. Some of the kits will not need to be done, as there were already convictions in the case. The rest will, hopefully, get done over time. Not much help for those women and men who have waited, but Karma is slow sometimes.
See your post above? You mean the post that was followed by several posts refuting what you said and making you look like a fool?
BULL! PURE and UTTER BULL!
funny you say that Bruce..cause the GOP hero, sheriff Joe Arpaio, ignored HUNDREDS of similar cases, where boxes of evidence werent found in a warehouse but instead deputies garages collecting dust..then he took 5 years to "investigate", which recently came out and of course absolved him and his office of any negligence...pft...
Where do you get your info from?? I thought that he basically ran the prison there, not the sheriff department..
I was born and rasied in Detroit... I see what's going on everyday.
There are plenty of DPD officers that want to do more, but they also want to be compensated. I don't fault them... work 12 hr shifts for 7 days a week, get paid a salary of $30K a year, and have city council members getting chauffeured around town on our dime?
dgeding
I know libs dont like the truth. It gets in the way of their blind rage.
What you know about liberals wouldn't fill a thimble.
Seriously, sexism is not a liberal or conservative thing. As if liberals have some exclusive on blind rage.
But, are you really suggesting that conservatives don't have some really messed up views about women, women's rights, and rape? Look as long as the accused rapist fits the conservative stereotype of being non-white and lower class, they won't procecute the woman for shooting. But, for most real rape cases the woman would have a hard enough time convincing a conservative jury she was even raped. Afterall it is a common myth among conservatives that women often make false rape reports, or that if the women gets pregnant it couldn't have been a real rape.
dgeding, please, since you've insight to how Republicans feel, post us all the proof that Conservitives have "some really messed up views about women, women's rights, and rape"...
Because they feel a woman DOESN'T have the right to murder an unborn child?
Because they feel the public SHOULDN'T pay for a woman's contraception?
Because they don’t feel a woman SHOULD be allowed to fight on the front line along side men?
And where in all that is there an agenda AGAINST women??
dgeding,
Living in Cali, I assure you I know quite enough about libs.
Two, Im libertarian so I do find fault with plenty of what conservatives do. But liberals trying to paint all republicans as sexist or racist to fit what they are saying, shows they know nothing of the subject. She would not have a hard time convincing a jury. We have an order and way of determining if someone is guilty. We need proof. He said she said doesnt fly. And that is not actually a myth about women make the reports up. Estimates range from 2% to 50%, but there is no definitive proof either way. We have had many cases such as the Duke Lacrosse team and the high school football player who had their lives ruined through false accusations. That is why all must be taken with a grain of salt. We cant just convict people based off of what someone says.
And using a quote from a single republican that was rebuked by all the other republicans shows how out of touch you are with reality.
Oh, and I fall into the camp that believes that we should stop going after pot smokers, and divert the funds towards rape, murder, molestation, assault, and other violent crimes. The war on drugs is ridiculous. But so is the made up war on women. We cant accomplish anything if we divert from the real problem to political smear campaigns. And yes I realize that I said something, but Im neither a politician, nor a media power player.
I never claimed any special insight. I can only recount what I see or read in the news. Do I really have to recount all the instances of some conservative making some crazy, offensive, or wildly inaccurate statement regarding these subjects? How many conservative politicians managed to lose political races because of thier views on these subjects?
Seriously conservative views on all of these subjects are at best opinions, many other people have other opinions. To force women to conform to your opinion on a subject when they have other thoughts, can be considered an agenda against women. Especially if this forced conformance involves women's right to self determination to be curtailed. But, I never said anything about an agenda against women, those were your words not mine.
Guess you didn't read your own post.
Try reading it again, you'll see your war on women... it's wrong, but you put it there...
Let me point out I said the myth was that women "often" make up false rape reports. It does happen most sources wouldn't estimate the number over 10%. This is the problem with most rape cases, it too often is reduced to he said she said. Which is why I beleve that women using firearms to protect themselves from rapists will result in women being tried for murder.
As far as the High school football player and Duke Lacross team, we have to ask the question why were so many people so inclined to beleve the stories? Because everyone knows how women are treated by men, especially men like those players. Its a sad fact that those men had thier lives turned upside down due to a false accusation. But on the other side of the coin how many women have had thier lives ruined by some rapist who was never brought to justice?
Bear in mind this "War on Women" is your words not mine.
Women treat men like crap too. Both are problems. Pretending one doesnt exist and making up this horrible war on women that the left has used is why we cant advance as a society. Stop being part of the problem.
Tracy
I live in AZ(not in Maricopa County, thank goodness). As to your comment regarding Sherriff Joe Arpaio and your thought that he was mainly overseeing the controversial prison system he runs, this is not so. He is an outspoken conservative Republican, he is a big proponent of investigating the veracity of Obama's citizenship. I will give you the Wikipedia link where you can read for yourself what a creep this guy is. He was only reelected into office because he received 51% of the vote (in a very Republican state).
But here is information regarding his failure to investigate sex crimes.
Failure to investigate sex crimes
During a three-year period ending in 2007, more than 400 sex-crimes reported to Arpaio's office were inadequately investigated, or not investigated at all. While providing police services for El Mirage, Arizona, the MCSO under Arpaio failed to follow-through on at least 32 reported child molestations, even though the suspects were known in all but six cases. Many of the victims were children of illegal immigrants.[69][73]
An Internal Affairs investigation has been underway for four years, since 2008. The Sheriff's Office refuses to release any of its findings.
A 13-year-old rape victim ignored
Among the victims that were ignored by Arpaio and the MCSO is Sabrina Morrison, a teenage girl suffering from a mental disability. On March 7, 2007, when she was 13 years old, she was raped by her uncle, Patrick Morrison. She told her teacher the next day, and her teacher called the MCSO. A rape kit was taken. But, the detective assigned to the case told Sabrina and her family that there were no obvious signs of sexual assault, no semen, or signs of trauma.
As a result of the detective's statements, Sabrina was branded by her family as a liar.
Her uncle continued to repeatedly rape her, saying he would kill her if she told anyone. She became pregnant from him, and had an abortion.
The family did not know that the rape kit had been tested at the state lab, and showed the presence of semen. The lab requested that the detective obtain a blood sample from the suspect, Patrick Morrison.
Instead of obtaining the blood sample, or making an arrest, the detective filed the crime lab note and closed the case for four years.[74]
The justification for ignoring sex crimes
An internal memo written by one of the detectives assigned to the Morrison case blamed a high case load, saying the special victims unit had gone from five detectives to just three, and the detectives left were often called off their cases to investigate special assignments. They included a credit card fraud case involving the Arizona Diamondbacks and a mortgage fraud case in Arpaio's home city of Fountain Hills.[75]
MCSO employees say staffing shortages were exacerbated by the agency’s preoccupation with illegal immigration and public corruption cases.
When county supervisors provided more than $600,000 to fund six additional detective positions to investigate child abuse in fiscal 2007, none was added to the sex-crimes squad. Sheriff’s administrators now say they have no idea where those positions were added or what became of the money after it was added to the budget.[76]
The Morrison case, reopened after 4 years lying dormant
It was not until September 2011 that the Sheriff's Office finally obtained a blood sample from Patrick Morrison, which was a DNA match with the semen taken over 4 years earlier. It wasn't until February 29, 2012, that Patrick Morrison was arrested and charged with one count of sexual conduct with a minor, at which point the MCSO closed the case. Only later was Sabrina's uncle charged with additional indictments based on information obtained from Sabrina by a victim's advocate, after the MCSO had closed the case.Patrick Morrison ultimately pled guilty, and was sentenced to 24 years in prison.In August 2012, Sabrina Morrison filed a $30 million notice of claim (a precursor to a lawsuit) against Joe Arpaio and Maricopa County for gross negligence. [77]In December 2011, responding to continuing media coverage of the controversy, and apparently unaware that there were actually hundreds of victims in these cases, Arpaio stated, in a press conference, "If there were any victims, I apologize to those victims."[78]
Wow, I'm at a loss for words.
Oh come on, now! You know cops have more IMPORTANT crimes to solve than some woman gettin' raped in her own home in the middle of the night, right?!? I mean, you know - it's not like he killed her or somethin'.
There's actual crimes being committed and the cops have to choose, where they're going to "focus" their resources.
Like, for instance, a stolen lawn mower. Or a joint of marijuana in some dude's shirt-pocket.
Hey, now - cops can't be everywhere and they can't solve EVERYthing at once!
Somewhere a lonely lawnmower wants to go back to its rightful owner, and somewhere a 17-year-old high-school student needs to be sentenced to 40 years for a one-sixteenth of an ounce of Mexican Dirt Weed (that he probably hadn't even smoked yet, he just bought a joint off some guy so the guy would leave him alone).
It's obvious the cops have THEIR priorities straight - now it's YOUR turn.
have some issues with the cops??? Doesn't show much...
No kidding Tracy...
Not all DPD officers are male... and not all male DPD officers are bad cops.
First half drunk cops in Chicago and now 10,000 rape kits that were never tested.
I'm ready to give up my guns, and put my trust in the Police for my families and my only proctection, are you?
What happened is absolutely unacceptable. This tells victims that they are unimportant, and victimizes them even more. What's worse is that they have already discovered 21 serial rapists, and a man prisoned for commiting three murders AFTER his victims rape kit had been shelved. How many victims could have been spared if the kits were tested, and abusers jailed? Good for Worthy and her volunteers for not only bringing this to the public, but pressing forward with prosecutions.
if it only saves one it's worth it(where did I here that quote from?)
gunsafety ~~~> ~~~> ~~~> Try Abraham and his bargaining session with God; Abraham kept whittling down the number of rightous men in the city before God would not destroy it.
I wonder if any of the families of the murder victims plan on suing the police for for incompetence since the murders would have been prevented if they had followed up on the rape.
Victim : Officer, I was raped!!!
Officer : Yeah, so?
Amounts to about that much.
That 'bout sums it up well Santhosha. That is exactly how police and prosecutors handle rape victims.
Sums up there are posters on here that are full of it!
You've no idea how or why those were there. Stop spewing your hate against the Men and Women in Blue.
They do a thankless job and you should be saying, "Thanks". It's not the beat cop that put those in there... so just stop.
Nobody forced them to become cops, friend. Your "thankless job" comes with lots of power, perks, and the ability to abuse both. Lots of the boys (and girls) in blue do abuse their positions, and have for so long that the problem was first stated in Latin.
"Quis custidiet ipsos custodes?" (Who watches the watchmen?)
How many cops are there total in the U.S.? If you count local and federal law enforcement there are about 800,000 total law enforcement officers in our country. So out of 800,000 federal and state and county and correction law enforcement officers how many are actually "bad" cops. A very small percent. But when a cop does do something wrong it's all over the news, and it should be. It's like plane crashes. There are literally thousands of flights that happen every single day but when a plane crashes it makes big news and even makes people afraid to fly. Statistically there are more car accidents then plane crashes. I think people need to put things in perspective and realize that you cant stereotype groups of people based on a few bad that you hear about. It's the same for different races. Just because you're Italian doesn't mean you have ties to the mob or if you're black or hispanic you're a gangsta. Cops have to go through all kinds of pychological tests and background checks to get hired and unfortunately some bad ones do get in.
She can start by asking why so many African American men are killing and raping each other at higher rates than any other community.
Right, because she's Black too. Obviously she can't do anything right, and should be chastised even if she does something right. Were you born a racist dummy, or did you fall out of a tree and land on your head?
Actually, I think his mother dropped him on it when he was a baby!
So sad to see someone so determined to change the greatness this lady is working on into lame comments about race...dude, she could be purple, matters not
a lot of the the racism stems from low IQs.....especially since it is clear that "lesser" advantaged people turn out to have IQs on par per capita with those "more" advantaged people. There are way too many people in this country raised to believe the only way you can get ahead is to step on someone else to get there.
African American men are raping and killing each other?
I thought it was black WOMEN being raped.
Shame on the men who allowed this to happen.
No, it's more shame on the men who commit the rapes in the first place.
Burn in hell to those (men and women, alike) who've been ignoring these kits for years, letting them get away with their crimes.
Kind of a cheap shot all men there isn't it? I can't imagine Detriot has no women anywhere in the chain of command... I mean here is a female prosecutor.
That said this is rather disgusting. I can't imagine how 1 of these kits sat on the shelf, let alone 11,000. Someone had to tell someone along the way that this was going on before they stumbled on to them in the wharehouse. I would also think - someone needs to take a longer harder look at who made those decisions and file some criminal charges against them for negligence and dereliction of duty. I mean here is a prosecutor pretty much telling you what investigation was done into discovering why these sat on the shelves for so long - was a sham - and yet they seem to ignore even that aspect of it.
You realize women were in the department too right?
Do you realize the rate of women in the Detriot police department -and their rank- does not allow them to CHOOSE to devote their hours to rape cases? Thats not the way it works duffus!
That is why women should arm themselves. This is their best chance for justice.
No. Just no.
What's the matter Kynetick? You afraid you might get shot the next time?
No, he/she just wants to be raped.
Well, not so fast, Prosecutor Worthy. Though you've indeed found a mountain of untested rape kits, this isn't the same as finding an enormous pile of undelivered US Mail thrown into a sewer by mailmen who were supposed to deliver it. I think to make sense of the untested rape kits, you'd have to individually reconcile them to any criminal case they'd have come from -- or even establish that a case even existed to match a rape kit collected by hospital staff. You might find in many cases any suspect had plead out to other/lesser/more provable charges, or that the 'rape kit' wasn't legitimately part of a rape accusation at all, or that the accuser chose not to report the case even though private hospital staff collected 'rape kits' as a matter of directive to do so no matter what claims were made, or finally that the previous sex crimes unit and prosectorial staff successfully/unsuccessfully established a conviction for rape whether the 'rape kit' existed or not.
Doubtlessly, there's untested rape kits in that pile that would have lent evidence towards prosecution. I don't argue that, but I don't think you can maintain a horror story that the majority of them signify unprosecuted rape cases any more than finding 500,000 condoms in an abandoned warehouse signifies an abandonment of 'safe sex' principles in the surrounding community.
In short, a huge pile of untested rape kits isn't enough to allow you to shout 'malfeasance' any more than a singly tested rape kit is enough to establish the crime of rape. Good work on finding them hiding in plain sight, I suppose, even though not one of them is now useful as evidence because the chain of custody has long since been ruined.
You are the perfect example of too much talk and very little action.
All you do is talk Ana.
I believe the point here is... there are 11,000 cases that have an incomplete status on them. 11,000 possible rape cases. Based on what we read in the story - they have been following up on the cases and have found and convicted at least ONE rapist - so I say carry on.
What in the wide, wide world of sports are you trying to say? Did you run your comment through some kind of word count tripler?
If you have some kind of point in there, it got lost. LOL!
This is a freaking comments section and people are insulting each other as being just "talkers"?
Its fun davefoley. Call me one, you'll feel better. :)
TKG, So, you're quibbling with 11,000 untested rape kits, cause there may be reasons other than dereliction of duty to explain them? That's the best you got for 3 long paragraphs? Say 90% have acceptable explanations. Then, 1100 untested rape kits would be ok by you, if your wife's or daughter's rape kit was among them?
How about 99% acceptable explanations (leaving "just" 110 untested kits)? You get where I'm going? If your daughter's were THE ONLY untested kit? Well? Would that one single untested kit be acceptable to you? What you really mean is, as long as nobody you care about is victim to a crime, you are willing to find fault with somebody who is attempting to correct the overlooking of criminal evidence! How very magnanimous of you!
TKG ~~~> > > You said ",,,rape kit wasn't legitimately part of a rape accusation at all." <<<~~~>>> Is this akin (couldn't resist it) to "legitimate rape" a phrase which Todd Akin didn't mean to say in quite that way, has admitted that he goofed in wording and publicly apologzed for, but the leftist sheeple have jumped on it like a suicide bomber pounching on his 72 virgins and ran with it? I now fully expect you to follow Akin's lead and publicly apologize. I also fully expect OJ to admit to murder and Hugh Hefner to take a vow of chastity and stick with it and Lucy not withdraw the ball.
I didnt read the entire article but some of those rape kits may have been established during a time when dna wasnt yet perfected. If you watch enough of those crime shows like The New Detectives back in the 90's they knew about dna but hadnt perfected it enough to actually get accurate results but they knew that they were coming close so they gathered the evidence hoping that soon dna technology would be able to prove these cases. It takes time to get through all of them. I think sometimes we think crimes should be able to solved in a one hour episode of a tv show but the burden of proving guilt is very time consuming and one little mistake on the part of the police or prosecution can have a whole case thrown out so much care needs to be taken to do everything correctly. Also, there have been cases of prostitutes not getting paid for their services and get mad and call the police and say they were raped because they're ticked off that the dude didnt pay up. It does happen whether you choose to believe it or not.
A rape kit isn't generated on someone's say-so, Cheryl. Each of those 11,000 kits represents a woman who let a doctor swab her vagina, anus, and mouth, collect scrapings from under her fingernails, and had pictures taken of any marks, bruising or trauma.
One of the reasons there are so many unreported rapes in this country is that the procedure is both invasive and humiliating, and many newly-traumatized victims can't take the thought of going through it so soon after being brutalized. (It needs to be done as soon as possible after the incident.)
I agree. I guess what I was trying to say is that some of those kits may have been collected at a time when dna testing wasnt very reliable but research was still being done to perfect it and when that day came, which it did, that they would do the dna tests on those kits and be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt who the perpetrators of those crimes was. Unfortunately, they kept pileing up until there were so many that it would take a very long time to get through all of them. Back in the 90's and even the early 2000's dna still wasnt that reliable and they really couldnt use it as evidence until it was perfected. It's even freed people who spent years of their lives in prison for crimes they didnt commit. Can you imagine spending 10 or more years in prison for a crime you didnt do? DNA works both ways. Frees the innocent and nails the creeps. I guess I dont think the prosecutors or police deliberately neglected those kits or didnt want to solve those crimes. From the article it sounds like some of those kits were so old that they were actually hand written instead of in a computer data base. Sometimes even cold case murders get set on the back burner until somebody new comes on and starts digging into those old case files and brings them back to the front. I really believe it's just under staffed departments that cant keep up with the case loads and it's a sad state to be in. My own sister was murdered and it took 20something years to solve her case so my whole family knows what it's like to have to wait for justice to be served. I do sympathize.
I guess I should also add that my own dad is a police officer about to retire in a couple of months so I know that not all cops are bad or don't want crimes solved.
Unbelieveable. How can the people responsible for this injustice sleep at night. The injustice begins with the victim and continues when we wrongly convict someone of the crime. Government needs to take a long, long look at our budget, and start diverting funds from unnecessary studies. Or, how about letting up on prosecuting marijuana users (are jails are full of them). Why? We should be paying attention to processing evidence first and foremost or our justice system will simply decline.
our justice system is already in a decline.(holder not answering to fast and furious)for starters
Tippecanoe and Tyler too!!
I figured that sounded better than the lame, tired "fast and furious" bot-complaints.
54 40 or fight!
There are no words for how this makes me feel … just WOW ….
Agree Rose. My stomache hurts
Shocking headline...it would be nice to know the whole story...but I'm guessing more tax payer money will make this story go away.
Detroit, another Progressive city. I notice that one can donate to the Detroit Crime Commission. Wouldn't that be the same commission which didn't test the rape kits to begin with? And who is on the board of the " Wayne County Rape Kit Initiative "? The funding for the tests on those kits, would have been provided through Detroit's tax policy of the past, therefore those funds to test those kits, should come out of the pension payments of past municipal workers, and others who have benefited from past financial shenanigans. If they'll rifle tax dollars, they'll rifle donated funds. Corruption in Detroit should be viewed as the culprit in this scandal, and as such the one's to pay, not kind hearted people and the victims of the crimes.
No, as a matter of fact it wouldn't be the same comission. The DCC is a public charity, 501(c) corporation seeking to "lessen the burdens of government and the citizens of the southeast Michigan area by facilitating the prevention, investigation and prosecution of crime." No connection to city government, in fact several of their executives are ex-FBI, though they do in fact award grants to city agencies to support their mission -as they intend to do with the rape kits.
Took me 30 seconds to confirm this using an amazing, high-tech tool called "Google". You see, you type in what you want information on, and click "Search", then it helps you find information, some of which is actually factual. In this case, "Google" took me to a thing called a "homepage", run by the DCC to give people information about the DCC. Try it sometime. Not as much fun as assumption, of course.
DCC as a public charity "seeking to lessen the burdens of government..." therefore is NOT an agency with authority to prosecute, no matter how many retired members of police agencies, churches, crime syndicates, or junk yard owners belong. Any citizen walking in off the street can make a contribution a cause of their choice. And that's the reason active police forces are continuously investigating embezzlement cases by public officials, be they City Clerks, or Girl Scout Cookie sales.
What is needed, is not a Google Search, but a budget audit. You get yourself copies of the municipal budgets for those years the rapes were to have transpired in. Let's say a rape transpired in 2004, ( the date is on the rape test kit ). Then in 2004 you will see in the police budget that so much was spent on testing the kits, which we now know wasn't. So then you look at budget transfers to see where that money actually went to, and you start catching frauds, and embezzlers, and etc. Go ask those ex-FBI people if they do a Google Search to nab embezzlers. It doesn't take 30 seconds, it takes about 30 weeks to audit all of those years of city budgets. The money is hidden when they do the budget transfers within the departments.
Just a small amendment. There will be different budgets to look at. One the city finance director presents to the city council, and other "budgets" the city council won't see, those transfers between lets say the police department transferring funds into public works, and public works transferring funds into "public memorials ". Let's say the police transferred one million to public works, and public works transferred $850,000 to public memorials, but public memorials only spent $30,000 on headstones. However, the cemetery owner might be the brother-in-law of the police chief. That's why department transfer audits are significant for the investigation, to see if the council approved appropriation went to the intent of the appropriation. In this example I gave, only 30 grand was spent in a million dollar appropriation.
This is beyond disgusting. All of these rape kits need to be processed. How many women have been raped because the system failed bring previous rapists to justice?
One is too many.
Three were KILLED by n of the rapists AFTER the rape!!
Their survivors are going to sue the living Sh!t out of the DPD . . . Rightfully so.
Just a shining example of how some people still consider women, and justice for them, a small priority. How many rapists were allowed to roam free to continue harming others because authorities decided to sweet the vile crime under the rug?
oops I mean sweep. lol
We can comment or we can do something about it! Just sent in my donation....be sure to notate Rape Kit Initiative so the funding goes to that specific cause.
When you got people like Rush Limbaugh calling woman "FemaNazis", what can you expect from these people?
Some women are femnazis. And this is Detroit, a liberal hell hole. Its stuff like this that Rush talks out about. But keep living in ignorance.
And Bill Mahr calls women @!$%#s. But that's ok, he's a liberal.
or, they were and are... "FemiNazis", a real tangible object!
Zombie ~~~~~Rush Limbaugh did not call all women, nor even all feminists, "Feminazi's. He said he was referring to the extremists who do not want women to make a choice, unless the choice is abortion and does want enforced abortion, regardless of the woman's wishes. You know, kinda like Obama coming close to admitting that if one of his daughters became pregnant, he would push for an abortion rather than handling it which way SHE wanted.
why does ANYONE listen to a pill poppin' prescription drug abuser AT ALL and actually believe what he says?
All you right wing idiots and that's being kind to sewer water always try to bring Obama into everything. This was a travesty brought on by an extremely lazy and poorly monitored Detroit police Dept and nothing else. I wish you Righty forum trolls would get a job and then maybe get a real life.
democrat home town,nothing to do with Rush.I'm retired with nothing better to do then pick on dumocrats
Who is talking about Obama? This is an example of a liberal city that runs itself into the ground with dumb ideals.
If you could see the case load the police deal with maybe you'd realize that the police arent being lazy. When you have a couple of investigators trying to deal with hundreds of case files it's kind of hard for them to solve crimes as quickly as we like. I think there's too many tv programs that show crimes being solved in a one hour episode but that's not reality. It also falls on the prosecutors office. They have hundreds of cases to prosecute when youre talking about a large city and they just dont have the man power to deal with it all. Believe me, the police get very frustrated when they make arrests and before the ink even dries on the report they see these creeps back out on the street because they were able to post bail. There are many women police too. Do you think they're also part of the "brotherhood"?
"Do you think they're also part of the "brotherhood"?"
Yep.
Got lots of time and resources to prosecute marijuana crimes (the perps tend to blink in owlish incomprehension, are rarely violent, and have difficulty coordinating enough to run), but actually investigating something? That's HARD! And it might be dangerous. Plus, it's unlikely to be wrapped up by happy hour.
As we were saying last night....
Detroit
New Jersey
Chicago...
It doesn't matter where you go in America as the Africans slowly push out the rest of us, the city becomes yours. It becomes your responsibility and you make it as you please.
CITY'S ALL OVER AMERICA WILL START TO FAIL AND THEN, FAIL. THIS IS JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG...
You're that scared of 13% of the population?
Seriously? You think 13% of the entire population of the US is going to "crowd out the rest of us?" Who is this "rest of us?" White people? 78% of the US population identifies as white.
And you're actually going around screaming about 13% crowding you out?
How does that happen, exactly? How does a 13% largely powerless minority "crowd out" a powerful 78% majority?
...or is it possible you're just a nasty racist with no brain at all?
he's a nasty racist with no brain at all.
Were did I say I was scared of 13% of the population? I said you have pushed us out. You have pushed us out, because we don't want to live in your world of s##t. We left... now the intercity's are all yours. It's just a matter of time, a matter of time before they collapse!!!!!!! This story is a perfect example...
Who on earth are you talking to?
You seem really confused. "Intercity's?" Are you trying to say "inner city?" Seriously, you think it's called the "intercity?" That's hilarious! Wow, what's it like to not only be that stupid, that ignorant, but to display it in public? Go on; tell us. If you know that many words, that is...
You are scared of 13% of the population. You reek of fear.
I'm as German-Irish as they come. But I understand your confusion. You think everyone with light skin surely must agree with you, so anyone who argues against you must be brown.
Nope. Surprise! You're still stupid!
How many other communities is this occurring in?
If anything maybe this should be a warning to Woman.
You can either arm yourself and be ready to defend yourself from rape, maybe taking out the rapist and preventing him from trying to rape anyone else, or you can take your chances and Hope that if you are ever raped and report it that you won't get victimized a second time because the police never investigate the crime, and the rapist is still out there to rape other Woman.
No. More guns is not the answer. More guns in the hands of untrained, frightened people is certainly never the answer. Go shoot something.
Who said anything about not geting trained?
Heres a link to the NRA that would be happy to help you get trained.
http://women.nra.org/
....armed, pissed off people being treated like second class citizens is the LAST thing YOU want. think about it.
... armed, aware people who refuse to be victimized or relegated to the status of second-class citizens is EXACTLY what I want. But I'm an American, and understand that that's a right that is universal to the human condition.
I'm not sure what you want, but you're obviously afraid of something.
Who said anything about training being mandatory for owning a gun? What, do you just assume everyone who owns a gun goes for training? Lots of people own guns. Think hard about that. No, think harder. Are you suggesting ALL gun owners have been properly trained in their use? ALL of them?
That the training is available doesn't guarantee everyone is trained. Surely, you know this.
Excuse me? Why on earth would I want that link? To whom do you imagine you're speaking?
Stop blaming these problems on politicians (dems and republicans). This is a failure of the system to protect women. Crimes against women and children have consistently taken lower priority because the war on drugs has been a focal point of funding. Pointing fingers doesn't change the results. The shame of rape and child molestation has kept funding low and punishment ridiculous in terms of the term of imprisonment not fitting the damage done to the victims. Politicians seldom want to take up this fight and lobby for longer sentences because of the taint associated with sex crimes, so child molesters and rapists do less time than those who harm other adults. It's time to turn this around and take offenders who harm women and children off the streets. If this is a mental disease that is not curable, then at least we can do society a favor and put harsher sentences in place and keep these dangerous people off the streets and keep offenders in jail until trials. These issues need funding and attention. The vulnerable in our society need protection, not shame.
@Sandy,Did you read Tired quote on the first page? He is the only one here telling the turth, but no one is listning, just pointing fingers, and asking why. So again let me tell you what tired is saying. Who commits crime? Who commits Rapes? Who are laws for? Who are all of these people? They are (MEN) but society gives them labels so they will not say, who they are. So here s soulation to all women problems in the usa. And that is have All women Castrate All Babiesd Boys at Birth. Kill your Father, Brother Uncle, PoliceMen, Doc, Laywers, Senators. Juat any Man that is walking down the street, because they are the ones that commits crimes. So you and other women get your guns and start killing all Men in the world, because that is the only way to stop MEN from wanting (SEX) And don't get married because this is what your husband will be doing to you everytime you (PERMIT) him to have sex with you.
I don't understand why this needs to be turned into a sexist issue, other than the majority of reported rapes involve women victims. I'd be willing to bet there are male victims represented as well in these kits.
I think putting a label like "this is for all the women out there that have been wronged" onto this situation is neither right nor helpful to this woman's cause. It's about the injustice of the justice system (not crooked cops or lack of trying, just being understaffed and overworked, putting drugs above sexual assault, etc.,). I think it's great what she's trying to do, but in order to save face, for public approval, call it what it is, a failute on the part of the system (and that doesn't necessarily mean on the part of the cops, just the law).
I would also be interested to know the majority dates for these rape kits. If they are from mid 60's and earlier, that makes a lot of sense. It's not alright, but at that time it would be more culturally logical.
While it makes for a good story, and good fundraising, I have to question the validity of the story of Audrey Polk. Not that she was raped, I believe that is true. But the statute of limitations on rape/sexual assault in Michigan is 6 years. And as noted in the article, these kits were not kept secure (maintaining chain of evidence) and were subjected to moisture, mold, dirt, and possible cross-contamination. It seems beyond belief that they would test a kit and get a conviction 14 years later. Anyone have any information on how this might have played out?
Dave's - the statute of limitations applies to unreported or unknown crimes. once a felony is reported, it is an open case. In WV, there is no statute of limitations on a felony ( other than perjury, and that is 5 years), as well as other staes. From a little reearch, almost all of the 11,000 kites were from open cases. Cops were too busy ( lazy, or stupid) to close the case.
"Some of the boxes were opened and exposed to the elements of the musty, warm warehouse. He immediately called his boss, Prosecutor Worthy."
Meaning most were still intact.
"Polk initially made several calls to the police about her case. She said she got little information and eventually stopped calling."
Meaning she didn't come forward 6 years after the fact. She pressed charges immediately and long before the statute of limitations. It just took this long for them to catch her rapist.
"It just took this long for them to catch her rapist."
It took this long for them to even try. Without this prosecuter's efforts, that kit would still be sitting in that warehouse, and the douchebag that raped Polk would still be walking around free.