Mariska Hargitay helped prosecutors solve thousands of sex crimes

Mariska Hargitay hasn't limited her impressive detective skills to the television screen – she also solves some cases in real life.

Recently, Date line Andrea Canning of NBC joined the Today Show to watch the latest episode of Dateline – Weekly True Crime and revealed that Hargitay, 60, had helped a Michigan prosecutor in thousands of sexual assault cases.

The Law & Order: Special Unit for Victims Star-funded prosecutor Kym Worthy on her journey to solving thousands of cases. Worthy first discovered that over 11,000 untested rape kits were sitting on a shelf in an evidence room. She took matters into her own hands and pushed to ensure that all of them were tested.

However, money was needed to test all these kits, and as Canning said: “So who intervened? Nobody other than law and order's Mariska Hargitay.'

Canning, 51, said the actress “helped them raise the money” to do this, which helped solve thousands of cases and uncover 22 serial rapists.

The Date line The station also noted that Worthy and Hargitay’s work “has a ripple effect across the country [and] is making changes everywhere – in police departments and public prosecutors’ offices.”

This is not the first time that Hargitay has supported real law enforcement. Earlier this year, in April, during the filming of one of the final episodes of the 25th season of Law & Order: Special Unit for Victimsshe was approached by a little girl who thought she was a real police officer because of the badge that was part of her character's clothing.

At the time, a witness told PEOPLE that the little girl had become separated from her mother at the Anne Loftus Playground in Fort Tryon Park and asked the actress for help. Hargitay obliged, pausing production for 20 minutes to help the child find her mother and comfort them both.

The witness noted that the young girl did not notice the film crew or Hargitay's partner that night of the scene, Ice-T.

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The Dateline – Weekly True Crime The episode airs Thursday, August 15 on NBC. Law & Order: SVU Season 26 premieres Thursday, October 3 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.