VA AG Mark Herring and DFS Launching “PERK System”
A new tracking system is being launched in Virginia, designed to better respond to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring in conjunction with the Department of Forensic Science has introduced the PERK tracking system, a secure system accessible to survivors, DFS, law enforcement, and hospitals who can locate a PERK kit at any given moment. The PERK system can be tracked at each step including distribution and collection to hospitals, transfer to law enforcement, submission to lab for analysis, and return to law enforcement for storage.
“In years past, survivors often had no idea whether their kit had actually been tested, and we found out it often hadn’t been, which is so disrespectful to a survivor and really undermined trust in the system. We’ve made so much progress over the last few years to empower survivors, improve communication and transparency, and implement trauma-informed, survivor-centered, practices, and this new system is going to be yet another big step forward,” said Attorney General Herring. “With this new system, survivors, as well as hospitals, labs, and law enforcement agencies, will know exactly what’s happening with a kit, where it is physically located, and where it is in the testing process at any given moment. I want to thank our great partners at DFS for all their hard work and dedication in bringing this project to life.”
The system will notify law enforcement users when collected kits have not been timely submitted for analysis, providing an important measure of accountability, and will provide law enforcement agencies and hospitals with a useful tool to manage their kits and inventories.
Courtesy of Image: Office of Attorney General Logo
