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LAPD Reports Backlog Of 7,038 Unanalyzed Rape Kits

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Oct 20, 2008 1:46 pm US/Pacific

LAPD Reports Backlog Of 7,038 Unanalyzed Rape Kits

LOS ANGELES Is a backlog in analyzing rape kits keeping violent sex offenders on the streets?

That's the question being asked Monday after an audit of the Los Angeles Police Department has reported a backlog of more than 7,000 rape kits that have yet to be analyzed.

Controller Laura Chick asked for the audit and found there are 7,038 kits with DNA evidence collected from sexual assault victims that have not been processed.

Of those cases, 176 are being pursued by detectives and 6,862 are part of the backlog.

Five years ago, the backlog was less than half of where it stands now.

Chick says, "There is not an acceptable explanation for the fact that we have close to 7,000 rape kits sitting on freezer shelves -- unanalyzed."

Police Chief William Bratton was expected to comment on the audit at tonight's Police Commission meeting at Southwestern Law School.

Councilman Jack Weiss, chair of the Public Safety Committee, and fellow City Council members Wendy Greuel and Eric Garcetti have proposed hiring 16 new employees for the crime lab in January 2009, at a cost of $700,000 for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The LAPD's Serology/DNA Unit currently has 30 criminalists and 13 lab
technicians.

"We appreciate that Controller Chick is now focusing on the DNA backlog
issue and has added her support to the efforts we have been making to add staff and increase outsourcing," the three council members said in a joint statement.

The California Sexual Assault Victims' DNA Bill of Rights requires law enforcement agencies to inform victims if the evidence in their rape kits is
not processed within two years of the crime. The audit found that 5,694 of the unopened kits are more than two years old, and none of those victims have been notified.

"It would be fair to say that the LAPD broke the law 5,694 times when they failed to tell rape victims that they are not going to open their kits and they have not tested their kits," said Sarah Tofte with Human Rights Watch.

Of the backlogged cases, 217 have exceeded the 10-year statute of
limitations.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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