Publicly Released: September 27, 2023
Objective
The objective of this evaluation was to determine whether the Military Criminal Investigative Organizations (MCIOs) investigated reports of sexual assault with adult victims, as required by DoD, Service, and MCIO policy. The MCIOs are the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and Air Force Office of Special Investigations. The objective of a special interest item in this evaluation was to determine whether the MCIOs had untested sexual assault forensic examination (SAFE) kits held as evidence that should have been submitted to a forensic laboratory for testing.
Background
Sexual Assault Investigations. This evaluation is the fourth in a series of evaluations of the MCIOs’ adult sexual assault investigations (see Appendix B for a list of prior reports). DoD instructions establish policy, assign responsibilities, and provide procedures for adult sexual assault investigations, and direct the DoD Office of Inspector General (DoD OIG) to develop policy, and procedures, and provide oversight for MCIO adult sexual assault investigations.
Finding
We determined that MCIO agents generally investigated reports of sexual assault in accordance with DoD, Service, and MCIO policy. We determined that Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) units did not conduct supervisory reviews for closed investigations, as required by the AFOSI Manual (AFOSIMAN).
Recommendations
We recommend that the AFOSI Commander update AFOSI’s information and investigation management system to prevent case closure until all required supervisory reviews are documented, as required by the AFOSIMAN.
Management Comments and Our Response
The AFOSI Commander non-concurred with the recommendation to update AFOSI’s case management system. The Commander stated that doing so could drive undesirable documentation habits such as backdating of reviews, and would not address the problem of documenting monthly case reviews.
This report is a result of Project No: D2022-DEV0SV-0028.000