Lab hopes to test most backlogged rape kits by end of 2019

A recent report shows the Idaho State Police lab is putting a dent in the number of backlogged rape kits.

The Idaho Statesman says the 2018 sexual assault kit tracking report released by Idaho State Police Forensic Services shows that the state performed 473 rape kit exams last year, and the lab saw 620 kits submitted for testing. That means police submitted nearly 150 old kits.

Idaho State Police Forensic Services Director Matthew Gammette says the increase in rape kit submissions to the Meridian lab has created a lot of work. At the end of 2018, 346 kits had been in the lab longer than 90 days, and the oldest kit had been in the lab for 495 days.

Gammette says the state “will work through all of the previously unsubmitted kits by the end of 2019.”