Victims of sexual assault in Illinois can now monitor the progress of evidence taken in their cases.
The Illinois State Police Division of Forensic Service unveiled a new online tracking system for evidence in sexual assault cases.
The system known as CheckPoint allows survivors of sexual assault to monitor the status of their evidence throughout the entire process, from collection at the hospital, through law enforcement pick-up and submission to the forensic lab, and ultimately to the State’s Attorney’s office where final results are received.
State Police officials say to ensure privacy, the system will use unique case numbers and passwords to limit access to survivors and law enforcement.
ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly says the system will allow survivors to have real time information about their evidence while protecting their privacy. He says ISP Division of Forensic Service personnel remain committed to supporting survivors of sexual assault through transparency and accountability.
At the end of FY 2020, the ISP completed 6006 assignments on evidence that was submitted for the offense of sexual assault or sexual abuse. As reported in the FY 2020 DNA Accountability Report in the Biology section, submissions are up 9% from FY 2019, the backlog is down by 40% from March 2019, and assignments completed are up 47% from FY 19. This includes offenses such as sexual assault, robbery and homicide.
The CheckPoint system on the Illinois State Police website at isp.illinois.gov