The accumulation of evidence collected in San Francisco sexual assault investigations has been reviewed and will be lab tested by the end of the year, clearing a major pileup and allowing the city to join a handful of other metropolises —New York City, Cleveland and Houston — with no backlog.
The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reports Wednesday that Police Chief Greg Suhr says there is money for the project in the department's budget.
Suhr had previously refused to partner with District Attorney George Gascón's office to apply for $4 million in grants to test more than 400 rape kits dating from before 2003, the Chronicle reported. More recent rape kits have already been tested.
Last week, Suhr said that even if he was able to test the old rape kits, it wouldn't be in partnership with Gascón, the newspaper reported. He said his crime lab was ``maxed out'' trying to address other problems and that the testing couldn't get done with or without the grant money.
But he now says clearing the backlog is "a huge priority for me.''
"I care about this issue,'' Suhr told the newspaper Tuesday. "It can't be done fast enough.''
Women who report being sexually assaulted are examined and their blood, urine, fingernail clippings and hair are collected. Swabs are taken from their mouth and genitals. It's all tested for evidence of DNA from the perpetrator.
The DNA collected can be entered into a national database that contains more than 10 million genetic profiles of criminals.
The San Francisco crime lab has already cleared a backlog of 753 newer rape kits, but hadn't dealt with those collected before 2003 largely because the statute of limitations for prosecuting rapes in California is 10 years.
Suhr says that statute doesn't apply in sexual assaults that involve weapons or kidnapping or that were committed by public officials or clergy.
Maxwell Szabo, a spokesman for Gascón, said the office is pleased the work will get done. "The victims of these crimes deserve as much,'' he said.
The rape kit controversy joins a list of other problems in the police department in recent months.
A task force is investigating 3,000 arrests handled by officers accused of sending racist and anti-gay text messages over a two-year period.
Authorities say the arrests could have been influenced and resulted in wrongful convictions as the result of bias by 14 officers being investigated for the messages. Six officers are facing possible termination. Two have retired. Six others are facing some kind of discipline.
Also, police crime lab technician and her supervisor violated testing standards on DNA analysis, jeopardizing hundreds of cases.
