Survivors tell San Francisco supervisors police and prosecutors mishandled sexual-assault cases; departments vow reforms

San Francisco supervisors heard more than two hours of survivor testimony on April 25 alleging repeated failures by city agencies to investigate sexual-assault and drug-facilitated-assault cases properly — including lost files, long delays in testing evidence and investigators who survivors say blamed victims.

Vice Chair Hillary Ronan opened the hearing by saying departments should hear survivors directly and that the city must begin a process of accountability and change. Several survivors told the committee they were treated dismissively by investigators or prosecutors and, in some cases, learned years later that forensic evidence had not been processed. One longtime survivor told the committee her 1993 rape kit was unprocessed for 20 years and that she was later told the police had lost her investigation file.

"I call this hearing so departments hear directly from survivors about how they are being treated," Ronan said.

Witnesses recounted specific problems: delayed or missing toxicology and DNA tests, uncollected vomit or other biological samples that survivors said could have helped prove drug-facilitated assaults, repeated requests for records that were not produced in civil discovery, and interactions with investigators the survivors described as demeaning or blaming. Rachel Zader Sutton described what she characterized as years of incompetence across multiple agencies; Tiffany Tonel said an investigator told her the case "basically wouldn't go beyond this room" and later emphasized the victim's "state of mind." Several witnesses urged creation of a centralized city advocate and a coordinated, multidisciplinary team to wrap services around a survivor from first contact.

Advocates and service providers offered concrete proposals. Jane Manning, representing Women's Justice Now, urged a city advocate, better interagency coordination, mandatory public release of sexual-assault statistics, improved hospital and medical-examiner protocols, and a targeted strategy for drug-facilitated assaults.

San Francisco General Hospital's Catherine Clawson described the hospital’s Trauma Recovery Center pathway: triage and private exam rooms, forensic evidence collection, medical and mental-health follow-up and links to advocacy. She said the hospital has instituted changes to take blood and urine samples within 30 minutes of arrival when possible, moved its survivor room to a quieter, private space, and reported it had served 5,634 sexual-assault survivors since 2001 and 401 in 2016–17 (a 21 percent increase over the prior year). Clawson said the hospital provides services in multiple languages and partners with community advocates for after-hours coverage.

Commander Greg McEachern of the SFPD's Investigations Division acknowledged the survivors' accounts and outlined department policy: first responders document reports and refer cases to the Special Victims Unit (SVU); rape kits are picked up and delivered to the crime lab within five days; the Police Commission expects results to be returned to investigators and, upon request, provided to victims within 120 days. McEachern said average turnaround is currently between 20 and 30 days and that the department has completed testing of previously backlogged kits. He also said SVU staffing has increased from about 35 investigators to more than 45 in the past year and described plans for trauma-informed training and a shadow program for first responders to improve bedside manner.

A District Attorney's Office representative apologized for any treatment that fell short of the office’s standards, described staffing and training adjustments in the adult sexual-assault unit (including reduced caseloads for vulnerable-victim prosecutors), and said prosecutors are working with national forensic experts on drug-facilitated-assault evidence, including whether vomit or other nonstandard samples can be reliably tested in particular cases.

Dr. Luke Rodda, chief toxicologist with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said the lab runs a comprehensive toxicology panel for case samples, routinely tests for many designer and emerging compounds and can retrospectively analyze results as methods improve; he confirmed that sensitivity and timing of samples can be key in detecting short-lived agents used in drug-facilitated assaults.

Supervisors concluded the hearing with a motion by Vice Chair Ronan to file the hearing for the record and indicated they will pursue follow-up hearings and reforms, including possible multidisciplinary teams or a Family Justice Center. The committee also continued a related item on domestic violence and child abuse to a later meeting so presenters can finish their prepared materials.

The hearing underscored wide gaps survivors and advocates say persist between policy goals and on-the-ground practice; departments acknowledged both improvements and outstanding work to do. Supervisors said they will work with survivors and advocates to bring forward concrete reform proposals in coming weeks.

What happens next: the committee filed the hearing record and signaled additional hearings and interagency work to refine training, evidence-collection protocols and survivor-centered response models.