Chillicothe PD Awarded Community Partnership Award

The Chillicothe Police Department has been announced as recipient of a Community Partnership Award from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey for successful cooperation with the Phase III of the SAFE Kit Initiative Project for the year of 2023.

In a release that announced the award, Sergeant McCurry said “Our officers and administrative staff take this project serious and want commit to successful prosecution and evidence storage for our crime victims. Partnering with patrol officers and detectives, our newly formed evidence team has tackled this project and has done a good job.”

The SAFE Kit Initiative was launched by the Attorney General’s Office in 2019 to inventory, test, and track the state’s high number of untested sexual assault kits with the ultimate goal of clearing the state’s backlog and obtaining justice for victims.

Of the 5,246 untested, reported sexual assault kits that have been identified for testing, 4,476 untested, reported kits have been submitted under the SAFE Kit Initiative to private labs for DNA testing. The remaining kits will be tested with federal grant money under the 2022 SAKI grant.

The SAFE Kit Initiative has received more than 400 CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) hits, which led to 3 felony convictions in Missouri. More than 10 cases are pending within the court system.