Tell Governor Polis to Clear Colorado’s Rape Kit Backlog!

It's been 152 DAYS since survivors first exposed the backlog to legislators. Yet, the backlog is still only partially funded (1,000/1,700+ kits financed), and Governor Polis, the person responsible for overseeing forensic kit processing, has yet to take responsibility for his failure to act sooner, despite knowing about the backlog since at least Spring of 2024.

Behind every kit is a human being who deserves better. So, we decided to do what Governor Polis would not—take action. "We" are two Colorado survivors and activists trying to clear the backlog of 1700+ kits and reduce the 568-day turnaround time to a more humane 90 days.

Background

Governor Polis is the only authority to whom the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (the lab responsible for kits) answers. Rather than take responsibility for the backlog and use his power to clear it as quickly as possible, he has minimized the issue publicly while privately hindering efforts to address it fully. In March, he withheld permission from the CBI to request additional funds from the legislature to clear the 1700+ kit backlog, citing the 1.2 billion dollar state deficit and the impact of negative public scrutiny on his administration.

This is a public safety crisis. Every kit is eventually entered into a national database that returns “hits” for known offenders and open investigations. Other states recently cleared their backlogs and found an average 50% "hit rate" for kits. Meaning of those entered into CODIS, half matched a known offender, or open investigation. So, every untested kit is a potential serial offender with a 568-day window to continue harming more innocent people undetected.

Governor Polis has shown no sense of urgency on this public safety crisis and has expressed zero empathy for the hundreds of survivors, including child victims, stuck in the backlog.

While he remains publicly silent, privately, he claims he cannot afford to process the entire backlog, yet commits millions of taxpayer dollars to less urgent agenda items like sterilizing wild horses, decreasing auto theft, and preventing cattle theft.

So, we started this fundraiser to clear the entire state backlog and reduce the wait time to 90 days. All funds raised will go to processing kits in the backlog, and any additional money will be donated to the Colorado SANE nurse program.

How it will work

The funds will be given to CBI and municipal labs using a legislative mechanism in the Department of Public Safety, which allows government agencies to accept private and public funds in the form of a grant credited by the Treasurer. We dictate the grant terms and how the agencies appropriate funds, so we can ensure labs dedicate every dollar to processing kits.

All surplus funds will be donated to the Colorado SANE Nurse Program to increase accessibility to forensic exams for survivors in underserved areas. SANE nurses are specially trained registered nurses who perform the hours-long invasive forensic exam in a trauma-informed way to protect survivors from further harm in the aftermath of assault. Despite their vital function, most hospitals don't have one staffed, even in major metropolitan areas like Denver. The lack of access is worse for rural areas, where survivors must travel an hour or more to get an exam.

Please donate what you can and share with everyone you know. Even if you can’t donate much, survivors suffering in silence are heard every time this campaign is shared, and every $1 raised goes directly to helping survivors. If we share it widely enough, the leader responsible for this crisis might listen and use his power to help the efforts to clear the backlog instead of hindering them.

Westword Article