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Progress made in Fort Worth's rape kit backlog
With the help of the Tarrant County medical examiner, the police chief says the department has been able to make progress.
FORT WORTH, Texas - The Fort Worth Police Department says it is working on getting more help getting its massive rape kit backlog of evidence manageable.
Last October, the department was dealing with a backlog of nearly 900 sexual assault cases.
With the help of the Tarrant County medical examiner, the police department has been able to make progress.
"We’ve been able to bring that number from 898 down by 190 to 708," explained Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes.
The department continues with the effort to urgently correct the problem that the chief says stems from a shortage of staff at their crime lab that processes sexual assault victims’ DNA samples after they are collected at a hospital.
Chief Noakes says he’s optimistic the job vacancies will soon be filled.
"What we are really encouraged about is that we have eight positions for forensic scientists. Five of those, we just closed the posting. And we’re doing interviews right now. We had 39 people apply," the chief told FOX 4 on Wednesday.
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The massive backlog includes more than 900 unprocessed rape kits. A breakdown was blamed on a shortage of specialized staff who process DNA in the police department’s crime lab.
"I want to know if our delay, our failure in this, did it compromise the judicial path of any of these cases?" asked Fort Worth City Councilwoman Gyna Bivens during Tuesday’s council meeting.
"Our understanding is no," Noakes said. "And our conversations have been with the district attorney’s office."
Following some councilmembers’ criticism regarding transparency, the chief answered questions about the backlog during an update at the city’s work session.
Noakes points out other steps underway include an arrangement with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. It will handle testing on any new sex assault kits that come in while the department’s lab works to erase the backlog. He also explained a new department policy to keep victims informed.
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"We are reaching out to every one of the survivors that may be impacted by this to let them know what’s going on, and we are requiring a notation by an investigator indicating in the case file to show that that contact has been made," he said. "We’re absolutely facing this head-on and will get this done right."
Fort Worth’s police oversight office will also monitor the department’s progress.