PHOENIX — The City of Phoenix has approved more than $3 million in additional funding to help outsource the testing of backlogged DNA rape kits in the city.
The measure approved Monday afternoon by the city says it will allow for existing funding within the Phoenix Police Department to be reallocated to help speed up the testing of the existing backlogged kits through DNA Labs International, Marshall University, and Bode Cellmark Forensics.
The measure approves $3.4 million in "additional expenditures" added to an existing $815,000 that had previously been approved for these contracts. The contracts also include testing DNA evidence in other criminal investigations that do not necessarily include sexual assaults.
"These contracts allow the Police Department to outsource biological screening and/or DNA analysis on evidence and provide analysis of evidentiary material associated with criminal investigations, capacity enhancement, backlog reduction, cold case resolution and sexual assault kit testing," the City of Phoenix wrote in its agenda items for its meeting held on August 28.
As ABC15 reported earlier this month, the Phoenix Police Department said it had 835 rape kits waiting to be tested as of July 31, up from the 771 untested it reported in May. Of those DNA kits, 533 remained with Phoenix police while 282 of them had been submitted to an outsourced laboratory but had not been tested.
As of August 30, the Phoenix Police Department says its backlog sits at 822 sexual assault kits, down slightly from our reporting in July. The department says it currently has 250 of those kits sent to an outsourced company for processing.
The department says that with the new measure passed, they expect to be able to send 300 additional kits to outsourced companies in the next month.
"After Monday’s decision regarding the increased cap for spending related to the outsourced sexual assault kits, the Phoenix Police Department's lab is now in a position to begin the task of getting ahead of the current backlog of SAKs," a Phoenix Police Department spokesperson told ABC15 via email.
The department says it expects it to take at least another year for them to be able to drive the backlogged kits "down to a manageable number."
See ABC15's previous reporting on this topic in the player below:
Maricopa County Attorney's Office responds:
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell called the growing backlog concerning back in May and again shared similar concerns when ABC15 reported the updated numbers earlier this month.
“It’s concerning. I wouldn’t downplay it,” Mitchell said in May 2023. “That’s really the bottom line is there is a risk of re-offense.”
Phoenix police blamed staffing shortages and complications during the pandemic for the backlog. Pre-pandemic, the department said the backlog was much smaller, closer to 100 to 180 kits.