By Lauren Silver | Cox Media Group National Content Desk
SAN FRANCISCO — A woman has filed a lawsuit in federal court against San Francisco over a practice that allowed the police to use evidence gathered from her rape kit to arrest her for an unrelated crime five years later.
An investigation began in February into the practice of using DNA collected from sexual assault victims to identify them as suspects in other crimes after the district attorney’s office discovered the practice in place, as we reported at the time.
The woman who filed the lawsuit, identified only as Jane Doe to protect her identity because she was the victim of a sex crime, was tied to a burglary in late 2021 using DNA collected from a rape kit collected as part of a domestic violence and sexual assault case in 2016, The Associated Press reported.
“A lot of people are surprised to learn that the police owe no obligation to protect the public. But this is well established in American law. The police are employed to investigate crime and apprehend suspects. If you are the victim of a crime, the police may investigate that crime. Or they might not. If the police develop probable cause to arrest you for something, they will. As a matter of law, I dispute the claim Ms. Pointer makes about how the provision of evidence to the police can ever be for any narrow or specific purpose. Be careful whenever you deal with the police. They are literally always looking for someone to arrest.”
Logan Elia, Rose Law Group Partner and Litigation Attorney
