PHOENIX — The Phoenix Police Department's sex assault backlog has once again ballooned to more than 750 untested kits.
Some DNA evidence, collected from people who say they have been sexually assaulted, has not been processed for months and, in some cases, more than two years.
Furthermore, the department’s data shows its internal rape kit backlog will continue to grow. Phoenix PD officials told ABC15 they receive, on average, 47 new rape kits a month - but only test 28 of them per month.
Right now Phoenix PD has an untested backlog of roughly 771 sex assault kits. According to a department spokesperson, “760 of these requests were made after January 2021.”
“That's a lot of deprioritizing of kits, right?” said Ilse Knecht, a director of the Joyful Heart Foundation. “And unfortunately, that's where we see cities get into a situation where all of a sudden they have 2,000 or 4,000 untested kits.”
“Since 2010, we made ending the rape kit backlog our top priority,” said Knecht.
So Knecht and her team are familiar with Arizona’s history of backlog issues and ABC15’s reporting on the problem.
A HISTORY OF ISSUES
For more than a decade, ABC15 investigators have exposed police departments letting rape kits get dusty on shelves instead of processing them to build cases against sex offenders.
After our investigations about how thousands of rape kits were left sitting in evidence rooms and, in turn, delayed justice for victims, laws were changed, grants were funded, and the state's backlog of 6,000+ rape kits was largely cleared with promises the backlogs would not happen again.
A backlog has happened again though, as Phoenix currently has nearly 800 untested kits and an estimated 19 additional kits being added to the accumulation each month.
“It's concerning. I wouldn't downplay it,” said Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.
Mitchell is ‘concerned’ because she prosecuted sex assault suspects for much of her career.
“The bottom line is there is a risk of re-offense,” said Mitchell.
“And we've seen this over and over again, preventable crimes that have happened because the kits sat on the shelf too long,” said Knecht. “We look at these untested rape kits as a danger to society. It's a public safety issue.”
At least a dozen of Phoenix's kits are from potential victims whose DNA was collected before 2021. Knecht worries that the possible suspects have had years to re-offend.
“What we know from testing rape kits is that many rapists are serial rapists [and] serial offenders. They don't just commit one crime, they commit all kinds of crimes,” said Knecht.
Recent Arizona Department of Public Safety data shows its tested sex assault DNA kits provide investigative leads 33% of the time.
“It's also sending a very terrible message to [victims],” Knecht continued. “That what happened to them doesn't matter, and that they don't matter.”
STAFFING SHORTAGES AND CHALLENGES
Phoenix Police Department officials say 10 of their 26 Forensic DNA positions are currently vacant.
“Staffing is a very big issue for labs,” said Knecht. “It takes a long time to train a DNA technician and then honestly, sometimes they do leave and go into private laboratories because they pay more money. So states need to prioritize this and give more monies to the lab, so they can be adequately resourced and staffed."
“I’ve got students who are now working in crime labs and they told me about some of the challenges in trying to get things done during the COVID period. And those are true challenges,” said Arizona State University Professor Sreetharan Kanthaswamy.
“Are there enough workers for the demand of the labor market?” asked ABC15.
“From what I understand, no, that's still a lot of vacancies that can be filled,” said Professor Kanthaswamy.
The Phoenix Police Department declined our on-camera interview request but emailed ABC15 a statement, which said in part:
Due to current staffing constraints and the complications due to COVID staffing this [untested] number has increased. We are taking several steps to catch up on this backlog as efficiently as possible. One of which is training and the implementation of advanced DNA technology for the process of the kits. In the short term this does take personnel offline for training however in the long term this will allow for the lab to provide the highest-level analysis and techniques to kits and all other on-going investigations. In the short-term view, the department has outsourced approximately 35% of the current list of backlogged cases in order to get them completed and analyzed faster. The lab is also working to utilize this outsourcing method to be able to manage even more of the backlogged cases, which includes another 50 cases this month.
"Outsourcing and sending the samples to accredited labs is a very reasonable solution to this challenge,” said Professor Kanthaswamy. “I'm sure it's a short-term solution. I think the long-term solution is to start hiring more folks."
Outsourcing is also more expensive. A Phoenix PD spokesperson says the cost to process a DNA kit internally is $590. Outsourcing the kits to a third party costs, on average, $1,133.
“It's tricky, but it is solvable. And we have seen other places solve it. It comes really down to leadership and where you're putting your priorities,” said Knecht.
If you have an investigative story or are a victim hoping to share your story, contact Zach Crenshaw at zach.crenshaw@abc15.com.