David Y. Ige

HONOLULU – Attorney General Doug Chin and the State of Hawaii’s Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (Hawaii SAKI) Multi-Disciplinary Team (MDT) today announced the launch of a new website under Project Mālama Kākou.

Project Mālama Kākou was created as a result of Act 207 (2016), which brought together a statewide multidisciplinary team of victim service providers, crime lab personnel, police officials, and prosecutors to comprehensively reform the testing of sexual assault kits in Hawaii in a caring and victim-centered manner.

The website (ag.hawaii.gov/hisaki), is a valuable resource for sexual assault survivors who had a kit collected but do not know if it was tested for DNA evidence. Survivors will have the option of calling their local police department or going to the website to begin the process of determining the status of their kits. Survivors may also be connected with support services by contacting a local service provider listed on the website.

Attorney General Doug Chin said: “Connecting survivors with support services through Project Mālama Kākou is critical to empowering them and fulfilling the commitment to a victim-centered approach to the testing of sexual assault kits in Hawaii.”

Representative Linda Ichiyama said: “The Hawaii SAKI website is an important first step to help survivors understand what happened to their sexual assault kit and the process now being used to test these kits. As the Women’s Legislative Caucus continues to work on this issue, I hope that survivors will visit the website and use the information to learn the status of their sexual assault kit.”

Dani Riggs, Clinical Director, Child and Family Services, Maui Sexual Assault Center said: “Our Mālama Kākou team knows that information heals and wants to provide easy access to the most accurate and updated information possible. We want to make sure that anyone impacted by the work of our project team gets the best care and most compassionate treatment possible.”

The website includes a description of Project Mālama Kākou – Hawaii’s Solution for Sexual Assault Evidence Collection Kits, a listing of the SAKI team members, Frequently Asked Questions, a dashboard reflecting the number of kits submitted for testing, information on survivor notification, and related information and services for survivors.

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For more information, contact:

Joshua A. Wisch

Special Assistant to the Attorney General

(808) 586-1284

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://ag.hawaii.gov

Twitter: @ATGHIgov