The city’s entire rape kit backlog has been tested, reports City Council Member Greg Casar, who said that the Austin Police Department confirmed the news last week. Though some kits dated as far back as the Nineties, the city’s already large backlog ballooned to over 4,000 after APD’s DNA lab shuttered in June 2016. As of April, all kits had been sent to contracted labs for testing. Now, Casar and advocates are calling on APD to move forward with investigations. Council approved a 2019 budget amendment for APD to hire four additional victim services counselors to support survivors in these cases.
This article appears in November 2 • 2018.