Law enforcement must pay for it. Despite the law, women in Lowndes, Floyd and Stephens counties are being billed for forensic exams in rape and sodomy cases. The Georgia Network to End Sexual Assault, a state-funded coalition of rape crisis centers, says it's received dozens of complaints from those and many other jurisdictions. Most victims don't even know they're not supposed to pay. That's because no one in state government has made sure that hospitals and police agencies know how the law works.
Some police agencies shrink from the high costs.
Advocates worry that police aren't ordering the exams because of the cost if they deem the case borderline or if the victim may not press charges. And sometimes, even when police are billed, rape specialists charge well below their cost for fear that police would balk at a higher price. Getting a bill for a rape that you had no control over and wasn't your fault, it's not a very empowering experience. But rape is virtually the only crime when police must depend on medical personnel to collect evidence. GBI-created kits used for the exams have slides, combs, envelopes and swabs to collect semen, hair or other clues.