VALDOSTA — Legislation requiring law-enforcement agencies to keep rape investigation kits for as long as 50 years would not have much of an impact on Valdosta and Lowndes County, according to local authorities.

House Bill 282 passed both houses of the Georgia General Assembly unanimously Tuesday, going to Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk for his signature. 

The proposal would require authorities to preserve the evidence, including “stains, fluids, or hair samples,” for 30 years after the arrest date or seven years from the completion of a prison sentence, whichever occurs later. 

If there are no arrests, the kit must be stored for 50 years. The intent is to make sure the material is available for later investigations.

Currently, law-enforcement agencies are only required to keep the evidence kits for 10 years.

The new requirements would not be much of a problem for the police department, Valdosta Police Chief Leslie Manahan said.

“Does it mean taking up more space? Yes,” she said. “Does it mean helping bring closure for victims? Yes.”

The police department stores rape kits in a refrigerated evidence vault and has about 50 kits in storage, the chief said.

DNA samples from crimes are entered into a national database called CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), which allows police departments to share the genetic information in crime investigations, but sometimes it can take years to get a “hit” from the system, the chief said.

Beyond the city limits, Lowndes County wouldn’t see much of an impact from the legislation because “we don’t see many rapes in the county,” Sheriff Ashley Paulk said.

Like the city, the sheriff’s office has storage space for rape kits, the sheriff said. However, some rape investigations involve the Georgia Bureau of Investigation at some point, which means the state agency takes control of the kits, Paulk said.

Both Manahan and Paulk said the cost of storage would not be enough to cause problems.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.