Gov. Beshear: Kentucky State Police Receives More Than $172,000 To Continue Sexual Assault Kit Initiative

Federal grant funding continues work to provide justice for victims

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 7, 2026) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear announced the Kentucky State Police (KSP) received more than $172,000 in federal grant funding to continue the commonwealth’s ongoing work to provide justice to survivors and victims of sexual offenses in the commonwealth through the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI).

“Our SAKI team has delivered real, meaningful results for survivors and victims of sexual assault in the commonwealth,” Gov. Beshear said. “Every single Kentuckian impacted by a crime deserves closure and the ability to seek justice and this grant funding will allow us to continue making progress.”

The federal funding received by KSP originated from the Bureau of Justice Assistance and will enhance the KSP SAKI investigative team’s critical work to analyze sexual assault kits and identify suspects through DNA testing. The team, which was created by the Governor in July 2021, works to leverage existing resources to investigate and identify sexual offenders. The team works with victims, law enforcement partners, prosecutors and community partners to provide enhanced investigation and prosecution of sexual assault cases.

Since its creation, the KSP SAKI team has received more than $4.8 million in federal grant funding, including $1.5 million in 2021, more than $840,000 in 2022 and $2.5 million in 2023. The 2023 grant award was the second-largest award in the history of the commonwealth from the Bureau of Justice Assistance.

“Our people are working with law enforcement across the commonwealth to solve cases as well as bring closure and a feeling of safety to our people through the SAKI program,” KSP Commissioner Phillip Burnett Jr. said. “This grant funding allows us to continue that work, and today we renew our promise to Kentuckians to never stop fighting for our neighbors.”

The SAKI grant program, funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, provides financial support to jurisdictions across the country to address the backlog of untested sexual assault kits, investigate and prosecute cases, and support victims of sexual assault.

Last year, work from Kentucky’s SAKI team directly led to the conviction of an individual in a 20-year-old unsolved sexual assault case following the 2023 arrest of the offender.

Gov. Beshear has been committed to supporting victims and ending Kentucky’s sexual assault kit backlog since his time as Attorney General. This was a priority for Beshear during his time in the Attorney General’s Office, and he took several steps to provide justice for sexual assault victims, including:

• Creating the Office of Child Abuse and Human Trafficking Prevention and Prosecution.
• Providing $4.5 million in settlement money to lawmakers to fund requested KSP crime lab upgrades
• Providing $1 million to aid law enforcement and prosecutors in conducting victim-centered investigations and prosecuting sexual assault offenders.
• Creating the Survivors Council to advise and assist his office on matters related to victims of crime.
• Hiring a victim advocate, investigator, prosecutor and SAKI coordinator in the Office of the Attorney General.
• Establishing a Cold Case Unit to address cases that have gone years without closure and later receiving a $1.4 million grant to further expand the unit.

Beshear brought this dedication into the Governor’s Office. His administration’s top priority is the safety of all Kentuckians. The Governor’s public safety actions are creating safer communities and a better Kentucky.

Since taking office, the Beshear-Coleman administration has awarded $187 million in grant funding to victim service agencies across the commonwealth. Gov. Beshear has also signed legislation to make sexual extortion a felony and strengthened statutory language to include other forms of abuse and sexual exploitation of minors.

Last week, Gov. Beshear further protected Kentuckians by signing legislation to establish the offense of grooming to better protect Kentucky children and hold offenders accountable, to formalize the role of a statewide Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner coordinator to strengthen the state’s response to sexual assault cases and better support survivors, and to enhance the state’s stalking laws by broadening the scope covered under the law to include social media and more.

Protecting the commonwealth’s schools are a top priority of Team Kentucky. In August, the Governor announced that 1,315 Kentucky public schools are following statutory safety requirements required by the School Safety and Resiliency Act and that the number of school resource officers protecting schools has increased more than 100% since he took office.

Since Gov. Beshear took office, fewer Kentuckians have returned to prison after their release. In February, the Governor announced that recidivism rates in the commonwealth have decreased for two years in a row, meaning that nearly 70% of those released from state custody have not returned. To build on this progress, Gov. Beshear recently signed House Bill 5, which provides the framework to create Kentucky’s first reentry campus, focused on increased public safety and boosting the state’s workforce. 0

The 2024 Crime in Kentucky Report, released in June 2025, shows that, from 2023 to 2024, there was an overall decrease of 7.66% in reports of serious crime.

For four straight years, overdose deaths have decreased in Kentucky. In 2025, the commonwealth saw 22.9% fewer overdose deaths than the year prior.

In 2023, the Governor signed Senate Bill 79 establishing the Safe at Home Program, which protects the residential addresses of survivors of domestic violence and other sexual crimes as well as the addresses of those who reside in the same household as the victim. Gov. Beshear also signed legislation in 2023 that doubled the weekly amount available for crime victims for lost wages to $300 per week from $150 per week; increased the amount available for funeral expenses to $7,500 from $5,000 and increased the overall total award available to $30,000 from $25,000.

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