Hundreds of law enforcement agencies across Ohio are failing to submit required sexual assault kit data to state authorities, raising serious concerns among top officials that untested evidence could once again be accumulating unnoticed in local storage lockers.
State records show a stark compliance gap in 2025, when only 61 law enforcement agencies submitted their sexual assault kit statistics to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. In contrast, 940 other police departments and sheriff's offices across the state failed to report their numbers.
While state officials acknowledge that a portion of the non-reporting entities are smaller departments that may not have handled any sexual assault cases during the reporting year, the widespread noncompliance also includes several larger municipal police forces.
The widespread absence of data has prompted alarm from Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, who took office earlier this year following the departure of Dave Yost. Both officials warned that the lack of visibility makes it impossible to verify whether a new backlog of untested sexual assault evidence is quietly forming across Ohio.
DeWine underscored the urgent need for comprehensive tracking, describing state-level data collection as an indispensable safeguard. The governor emphasized that knowing the exact figures acts as essential sunlight on the issue, preventing cases from slipping through the cracks of the justice system.
To address the reporting deficit, DeWine and Wilson announced the creation of an expert working group charged with examining why local agencies are not complying with the reporting expectations and determining what legislative adjustments are necessary to resolve the issue.
The newly assembled advisory panel faces a tight timeline, with instructions to deliver concrete policy recommendations by early December. The compressed schedule is designed to allow action before both DeWine and Wilson leave their respective offices in early January.
Wilson identified key structural weaknesses in the current setup, pointing out that existing submission requirements are excessively cumbersome for local police departments to navigate. Furthermore, state law currently imposes no statutory penalties or enforcement measures against departments that fail to report their evidence figures.
The issue strikes at the heart of a major initiative begun more than a decade ago. After taking office as attorney general in 2011, DeWine mounted an aggressive statewide effort, urging 294 law enforcement agencies across 75 counties to send 13,931 previously abandoned and untested sexual assault kits to the state crime laboratory for formal analysis.
That historical testing initiative uncovered evidence from neglected cases stretching back as far as 1971. The comprehensive scientific review yielded roughly 5,000 investigative matches in DNA databases and led to the identification of an estimated 300 serial rapists who had previously evaded law enforcement.
The revelations from that testing push also prompted significant statutory reforms across Ohio. Lawmakers enacted a legal mandate requiring police departments to submit sexual assault kits for laboratory analysis within 30 days of determining that an offense occurred, while the state simultaneously launched a tracking system allowing survivors to follow the progress of their evidence.
Reflecting on the initial backlog-clearing effort, DeWine noted that victims were previously denied justice and left entirely in the dark regarding their cases. He recalled that state officials initially had no accurate accounting of how many forgotten rape kits were languishing inside police evidence rooms statewide, and the scope of the problem only expanded the deeper investigators looked.
Advocacy organizations have expressed strong support for the state's renewed focus on data compliance. The Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence applauded the collaborative initiative by DeWine and Wilson, noting that state agencies, forensic nurses, crisis centers, and law enforcement have already invested substantial resources into enhancing the state's response to sexual offenses.
The alliance stated that it welcomes the chance to assist in drafting clearer, more effective administrative rules that prioritize survivor privacy, improve reporting pathways, and center squarely on the needs of victims seeking justice.
The process of collecting sexual assault evidence remains demanding and costly for both survivors and healthcare systems. Completing a standard sexual assault examination typically requires around four hours in a hospital emergency room, with associated expenses reaching roughly $2,500 depending on the medical facility.
Once evidence is gathered, forensic facilities—such as the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation crime lab operated by the attorney general's office—extract biological material to build DNA profiles. Those genetic profiles are subsequently uploaded into searchable law enforcement databases to assist investigators in identifying suspects and linking connected crimes.
Despite these established scientific procedures, interpretive ambiguities in state law continue to pose challenges. Tammy Robertson, a forensic nurse with the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence, explained that while most departments promptly forward kits for lab work, certain law enforcement agencies interpret the current 30-day requirement as an exemption, concluding they do not need to send kits for forensic analysis if investigators have not yet made a definitive determination that a crime occurred.
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