Kalamazoo County prosecutors are getting a boost as they work to solve sexual assault cases. Money approved by lawmakers and disbursed by the state Attorney General’s office will allow Kalamazoo to hire a third investigator to follow up on evidence from rape kits.
It’s an addition to a grant that’s already paid for two people to work through a backlog of cases over the last couple of years. County Prosecutor Jeff Getting says that’s led to several prosecutions and “closure” for survivors.
“We’ve been able to provide opportunity for other victims who you know, maybe, I don’t want to say had given up hope but lost some faith in the system,” he said.
Getting says the county has now tested all of the rape kits, but the work is not done.
“There are still several or many cases that we need to finish contacting victims and conducting further investigations to determine whether or not there are viable charges against anyone,” he said.