Audit of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Overview of Audited Entity

This section describes the makeup and responsibilities of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security.

Overview

The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS) was established by Section 2 of Chapter 6A of the Massachusetts General Laws. EOPSS is a secretariat that oversees the following state public safety agencies, boards, and commissions.

EOPSS Organizations
Department of Criminal Justice Information Services	Massachusetts State Police Crime Laboratory (MSPCL)
Department of Fire Services	Municipal Police Training Committee
Massachusetts Department of Correction	Office of Grants and Research (OGR)
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency	Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Military Division of the Commonwealth	Sex Offender Registry Board
Massachusetts Parole Board	State 911 Department
Massachusetts State Police

According to its website,

EOPSS is responsible for the policy development and budgetary oversight of its secretariat agencies, independent programs, and several boards which aid in crime prevention, homeland security preparedness, and ensuring the safety of residents and visitors in the Commonwealth.

EOPSS is located at 1 Ashburton Place, Suite 2133 in Boston.

Provider Sexual Crime Report Forms

Section 12A1/2 of Chapter 112 of the General Laws requires medical providers to report all cases of sexual assault in which a survivor seeks medical treatment to the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services. Medical providers send these reports, regardless of whether the survivor reported the case, to a local law enforcement agency (LLEA).

During treatment, a medical provider completes a Provider Sexual Crime Report (PSCR) form, collecting information including but not limited to the following:

• the survivor’s gender, age, and race;
• the date, time, and location of the assault;
• the number of assailants, their relation(s) to the survivor, and their gender(s);
• the type of weapon(s), if any, and/or force used;
• the survivor’s description of the assault; and
• whether the incident was reported to the police at the time of the exam.

According to Section 12A1/2 of Chapter 112 of the General Laws, the PSCR form must not include any of the survivor’s personally identifiable information (PII), such as their name, address, or any other data that could confirm their identity.

The medical facility faxes the PSCR form to the LLEA. The medical facility also sends a copy of the PSCR form to OGR, where analysts input the information into a master database. The PSCR master database was created in 1999, and its data is used to research sexual assault trends in the Commonwealth.

Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kits

EOPSS oversees the distribution, collection, testing, and reporting of the sexual assault evidence collection kits (SAECKs) for patients 12 years or older and pediatric SAECKs for patients under the age of 12.

A SAECK is a sealed box containing detailed protocols and materials that specially trained medical providers use to conduct a forensic medical sexual assault examination, if the survivor gives their consent. If the survivor consents, a medical provider collects DNA evidence from the survivor’s body, clothing, and belongings. Once complete, the medical provider notifies the appropriate LLEA that it needs to retrieve a SAECK, at which time the LLEA transfers the SAECK to a crime laboratory² for analysis if the survivor reported the assault to police, or if the survivor is 15 years old or younger.

In cases where the survivor has not reported the sexual assault, the LLEA becomes the custodian of the SAECK. According to Section 97B1/2 of Chapter 41 of the General Laws, the LLEA preserves the evidence for the duration of the statute of limitations for all sexual assault and rape cases. The SAECK is then stored and remains untested until the survivor reports the sexual assault to police.

A public or private crime laboratory conducts DNA testing of the sexual assault evidence by screening for biological materials to develop a DNA profile of the individual(s) who contributed that biological material. If a qualifying DNA profile is developed from the evidence, that profile is uploaded into the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS)³ and the state’s DNA database.

Track-Kit System

Section 18X of Chapter 6A of the General Laws requires EOPSS to create a statewide SAECK tracking system. EOPSS implemented the web-based Track-Kit system to allow users to trace SAECKs from distribution to collection to processing to storage. Survivors of sexual assault can confidentially view the location and status of their SAECKs in the Track-Kit system.

A medical provider enters a SAECK’s unique barcode and assigns a responsible LLEA in the Track-Kit system based on where the sexual assault took place. The medical provider who administers the examination gives the survivor a passcode. The survivor has the option to receive notifications from the Track-Kit system by text message or email as their SAECK moves through the testing process. There is no PII entered into the Track-Kit system by the medical provider, the LLEA, MSPCL, or the Boston Police Department Crime Laboratory.

The LLEA updates the Track-Kit system when it receives a SAECK. If the survivor filed a police report, the LLEA sends the SAECK to MSPCL or the Boston Police Department Crime Laboratory for testing and the receiving laboratory updates the location in the Track-Kit system. SAECKs may be returned to the LLEA before the completion of testing. The Track-Kit system automatically notifies the survivor when their SAECK’s location is updated in the system if they have chosen to receive these notifications.

Previously Untested Investigatory SAECKs

Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2018 mandated that medical facilities submit all previously untested SAECKs to law enforcement before they are ultimately sent to MSPCL or a police crime laboratory for testing. These previously untested SAECKs are not logged within the Track-Kit system. Instead, they are separate from the SAECKs collected after 2019.

Chapter 5 of the Acts of 2019 introduced an $8 million investment for submitting all previously untested SAECKs in police custody to a crime lab and for ensuring that the reforms in Section 214 of Chapter 69 of the Acts of 2018 were implemented. Chapter 35 of the Acts of 2021 amended the Acts of 2019 so that the $8 million investment covered the costs of testing all previously untested investigatory SAECKs. MSPCL or an accredited private crime laboratory would perform the testing.

Section 2 of Chapter 35 of the Acts of 2021 required MSPCL to conduct reviews of all previously untested investigatory SAECKs for quantity-limited evidence (QLIM) within 90 days of the effective date of the Acts of 2021. MSPCL provided results of these reviews to the assigned district attorneys’ (DAs’) offices. The assigned DAs’ offices then conducted their own reviews of the evidence to determine whether a crime laboratory should perform DNA testing on the SAECKs. The assigned DA would contact the survivor if a SAECK contained QLIM and the DA had made the decision not to proceed with testing.

This law also mandated that all previously untested investigatory SAECKs that MSPCL identified as not containing QLIM to be transferred within 180 days of the effective date of the Acts of 2021 to an accredited public or private crime laboratory for DNA testing. The assigned DA’s office would notify survivors that their SAECKs were being transferred to an accredited public or private crime laboratory. For cases that had already resulted in a conviction or guilty plea, the DA needed to obtain consent from the survivor to proceed with testing. EOPSS told us during our audit that MSPCL only transfers SAECKs once it received authorization from the assigned DA’s office.

According to EOPSS’s December 2021 “Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kit (SAECK) Quarterly Report,” “The MSPCL determined that prior to July 1, 2021, there were 6,502 SAECKs submitted to the MSPCL from2000 to 2018 to be reviewed for eligibility under the Act.” (See the Appendix.)

These previously untested investigatory SAECKs were stored at various LLEAs and crime laboratories throughout the Commonwealth. 

Quarterly Reports

Section 2 of Chapter 35 of the Acts of 2021 requires EOPSS to file a quarterly report with the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security on the status of the previously untested investigatory SAECKs no later than January 1, 2022. These quarterly reports must include the following information required by Section 2 of Chapter 35 of the Acts of 2021:

(i) the number of untested investigatory sexual assault evidence kits in the possession of public crime laboratories prior to [July 1, 2021]; (ii) the year each kit was collected; (iii) the date each kit was tested; and (iv) the date the resulting information was entered into CODIS and the state DNA databases.

2.    Crime laboratories are facilities that provide forensic services, performing analyses on evidence obtained as part of criminal investigations. There are nine accredited MSPCL sites located across the Commonwealth.

3.    According to the US Department Justice’s Office of the Inspector General’s website, “CODIS is a national DNA information repository maintained by the [Federal Bureau of Investigation] that allows state and local crime laboratories to store and compare DNA profiles from crime-scene evidence and convicted offenders.”

Date published:	August 8, 2024