FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

May 27th, 2022 

Contact: Senator Robert Cowles: (608) 266-0484

Applauds New Sexual Assault Kit Tracking Database

GREEN BAY– Senator Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) released the following statement in support of this week’s announcement that the sexual assault kit tracking database, known as Track-Kit, is now active: 

“Years’ worth of advocacy by Senator Darling and I have finally delivered Wisconsin to this point. Act 117, authored by Senator Darling and Representative Thiesfeldt, was a huge piece of the Legislature’s efforts to deliver accountability and justice to survivors of sexual assault and accompanies my effort from this session, Act 116 which established the timelines and protocols for the handling of these kits. Track-Kit, established under Act 117, will ensure that new standards in Act 116 are followed and provide that certainty to survivors of these crimes. 

“These were efforts that stretched more than two legislative sessions and two attorneys general, with a myriad of supporters sticking by us throughout this process, including helping to push us towards unanimous passage in the full Senate twice. Thankfully, those efforts were successful in the end, and Wednesday’s announcement is just the latest in a line of bipartisan-led, nonpartisan-drafted survivor support efforts in Wisconsin.” 

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