Purpose:

To ensure a productive and effective process for collecting, testing and tracking all SANE kits.  Standardization of SANE Kit procedures will ensure that critical evidence is being tested.

Procedures:

Collection

  1. All SANE kits that are recovered with a Saint Paul Police Department case number must be sent to the MN BCA for laboratory testing, NO exceptions.  SANE kits that hospitals collect in cases involving a victim who does not want to involve the police will remain with the hospital. If there is no case number, the SPPD will not recover the SANE kit.
  2. Upon the initial review of each case, the assigned investigator will ensure that all evidence has been recovered and turned into the property room.
    1. If a SANE kit was not recovered by the officer who took the original report, the investigator assigned to the case will either recover it in person or assign an officer to recover the kit.
    2. All SANE kits must be picked up from the respective hospital within 7 business days. All evidence recovery is documented in RMS with a supplement report entitled, “Chain of Custody”.

Submission to BCA

  1. Within 14 business days, all SANE kits will be delivered to the MN BCA for testing.

  2. Weekly: SPPD property room employees will send an email to FSVU Clerical staff each week to notify the unit about kits that have been turned in for testing. The email will contain the case numbers of SANE kits turned into the property room during the previous week. Sex Crimes investigators will ensure these kits are checked out of the property room and transported by a sworn officer from the Sexual Violence Unit to the MN BCA for laboratory processing. An RMS supplement report documenting the “chain of custody” for SANE kits is required.

    • SANE kits will be submitted with the email address “CI-StPaul_SPPD-SexCrimesUnit,”, and include the date and case number. Each member of Sex Crimes will have access to this email. Using this email ensures all BCA results are tracked within the Sex Crimes Unit. If an individual investigator’s email address is used and that investigator is transferred, separates from the department or retires, the BCA lab results could potentially not be acted on in a timely manner.

    • After the BCA has tested the contents of the SANE kit, the SANE kit box and any contents not tested by the BCA will be returned to the SPPD Property room by SPPD Sexual Violence Unit personnel. In certain circumstances after testing is completed, the BCA may choose to ship a SANE kit directly to the Saint Paul police Department Property Room by a shipping Company such as UPS, FEDEX or U.S. Mail. Upon receipt of the SANE kit box, the Sexual Violence Unit personnel doing the recovery will make a photocopy of the box being of no evidentiary value and will be destroyed (see the applicable Evidence Retention Policy and General Order 235.50). If it is determined the SANE kit box contains evidence that is to be retained the SANE kit and contents will be entered as “held for evidence” by the investigator assigned to the case. A RMS supplement report will be required documenting the “chain of custody.”

      Follow-up by Sex Crimes Personnel

      Monthly: Sex Crimes investigators will meet with SANE kit coordinators from Saint Paul hospitals to ensure all CSC kits are being handled and recovered according to SPPD Sexual Violence Unit protocols and policies. Hospitals outside of Saint Paul will be contacted on a case-by-case basis.

      Revised June 18, 2019

Last Edited: June 18, 2019