California on Tuesday launched a website that allows victims of sexual assault to track the status of the results of their medical exams — an effort to address widespread complaints about wait times due to backlogged cases at local police departments.

The online portal, hosted by the California Department of Justice, allows victims to search for results of rape kits completed after 2018.

Sexual assault forensic exams are completed in hospitals and sent to local law enforcement departments, which are tasked with linking DNA to perpetrators. But in California and nationwide, the evidence has sat on shelves at police and sheriff’s departments, in some cases going untested for years.

Source: California launches site to track results of rape kits after police backlogs – Los Angeles Times