RALEIGH - Today U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. announced a $1,000,000 Department of Justice grant to the City of Fayetteville to help its law enforcement agencies and crime labs process sexual assault evidence and increase the number of sexual assault kits submitted to crime labs in order to solve more crimes, including cold cases, in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The grant, awarded by the Department’s Office of Justice Programs, is part of more than $45 million in funding to support the National Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI).
OJP’s Bureau of Justice Assistance made 36 grants to strengthen jurisdictions’ capacity to act on evidence resulting from rape kits, and three grants to the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence ‒ Inventory, Tracking and Reporting (SAFE-ITR) program.
“Far too many people endure the physical and emotional trauma of a sexual assault only to have evidence of the crime remain unanalyzed," said Katharine T. Sullivan, OJP’s Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General. “These grants will help investigators get these kits to labs, where they can be tested, used to solve crimes and ultimately bring justice to victims."
This award to the City of Fayetteville made to organization will support law enforcement and prosecutorial activities related to the testing and use of evidence obtained in a sexual assault investigation.
“One cannot imagine a more important goal than bringing justice to victims of sexual assault," said Higdon. “These funds will help to ensure that we achieve that goal much more affectively."
For a complete list of individual grant programs, award amounts, and jurisdictions that will receive funding, click. More information about OJP and its components can be found at www.ojp.gov.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
