DOJ probing NYPD special victims unit over NYC rape kits abandoned in storage: sources

Rape kits that should have been analyzed by the NYPD but were left in storage at hospitals across the city are now part of a sprawling Department of Justice probe into the department’s Special Victims Division, The Post has learned. The revelation comes after The Post revealed the snafu , which meant that an unknown number of cases were not fully investigated, victims didn’t get justice, and countless rapists could be roaming free.

“The Department of Justice is looking at it,” a police source said, adding that a “large number” of the kits weren’t picked up by Special Victims Division detectives and taken for analysis at the NYPD’s lab in Queens. The Post reported exclusively on Dec. 3 that the forensic kits — which contain semen, saliva, and other evidence from reported rapes — were found gathering dust at some of the 60 hospitals that conduct rape victim exams in the city.

The NYPD still hasn’t revealed how many of the kits were found as hospital employees cataloged storage areas to comply with a new state law requiring the evidence to be sent to an upstate facility. “The hospitals were calling us saying what do you want to do,” the source said. “We don’t have a count.” After learning of the bungled rape kits, the NYPD assigned Special Victims Division detectives to regularly call city hospitals to ensure the evidence was being collected.

Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, declined to comment when asked if the probe was looking at the rape kit debacle. The abandoned evidence could have helped catch serial rapists with modern day technology like DNA cloning, which is used in cases where there wasn’t enough evidence to find a match at the time of the crime.

Investigators also have access to databases where the evidence could be matched to out of state cases. “That’s forensic evidence left behind — that’s really what the issue is,” the police source said. The DOJ began its probe into the NYPD’s Special Victims Division in June 2022 to determine whether the unit engaged in gender biased policing.

The feds said at the time they would review the policies, procedures, and training for investigations of sexual assault crimes, including how they interact with survivors, collect evidence, and complete investigations. “There have been numerous complaints from insufficient manning, to not the best hand picked detectives being selected, nepotism, and now the collection of rape kits has come into question in more than one instance,” the source said.

A second source with knowledge of the federal probe said the NYPD should reveal how many of the kits were abandoned. “Somebody must do a full transparent investigation,” the source said. “If the NYPD did nothing wrong, a full investigation would show that. A city government cannot allow this to go on.” An NYPD spokesperson said there “are currently no statewide tracking systems in place for the Sexual Offense Evidence Collection Kits, which leaves the possibility for kits to be left behind in hospital storage and not be tested in a timely manner.” The department also said it would “continue to work closely with (DOJ) regarding any additional information they request.”.