Victims’ advocate Julie Valentine said during a recent Utah Rape Kit Working Group that evidence, not instinct, should be the basis of sexual assault investigations.

Valentine, a sexual assault nurse examiner and professor, made the comment in response to a law enforcement official who claimed that incidents of false rape accusations are higher than the media likes to report. That official, the senior crime scene investigator for a city in Utah, drew the conclusion from this that it would be a waste of money to examine all rape kits.