Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Sexual Assault Response topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Sexual‑assault response team reports caseload, outreach and data trends; South County shows higher IPV exam share
Summary
Santa Clara Valley Health and the county Sexual Assault Response Team reported 865 forensic exams last year, broad outreach and a data platform for quality assurance; the team flagged a higher share of IPV exams in Gilroy.
Santa Clara Valley Health and the county's Sexual Assault Response Team told the committee the county handled 865 forensic exams last year and has expanded outreach and data tracking, and SART leaders highlighted an unusual local pattern in South County.
Gigi Gill, nurse executive for the SART forensic exam program at Santa Clara Valley Health, and program staff reported the SART coalition reached more than 2,000 people through partner trainings, school and campus outreach and community advocacy events in the latter half of 2024. The team described a data platform used across programs that helped identify internal quality issues and outliers requiring follow‑up.
Key data points: The county reported that about half of adult/adolescent sexual‑assault exams occurred between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.; average forensic‑team arrival times were about an hour; advocates and law enforcement were present in most exams (advocacy involvement ~95%; law enforcement presence ~92%). Santa Clara Valley Medical Center carried the largest share of exams; the program also serves patients at Stanford, Dominican and Gilroy.
South County pattern: SART staff noted that in Gilroy more than 60% of forensic exams were intimate‑partner‑violence (IPV)‑related rather than non‑partner sexual assault, which is the reverse of most other jurisdictions in the county. Staff said they are investigating whether that pattern reflects referral differences, under‑reporting of certain exam types, or real differences in incidence.
Action: The committee referred the report to the full Board of Supervisors for broader visibility.
Why it matters: The SART effort combines medical forensic exams, advocacy and law‑enforcement coordination; officials said improved data collection and partner outreach are helping the county identify quality‑assurance needs and target training and prevention work in specific areas.
