FORT WORTH (1080 KRLD)- The Fort Worth Police Department is making progress in testing evidence in sexual assault cases.
An investigation by NBC 5 recently showed that hundreds of rape kits had not been tested within the time frame set out by state law.
"As of November 4th, the current number of overdue cases is now 708. That is down from 898 from October 11th of this year," Police Chief Neal Noakes recently told the Fort Worth City Council.
The department is working on an agreement with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office to conduct testing on evidence in new cases. They have also posted an ad to hire new forensic examiners in the city’s own lab. The department has also assigned additional detectives to notify victims in sexual assault cases if the testing on the evidence in their case is overdue.
"This has been a very ugly story for us to deal with," said Fort Worth City Council Member Gyna Bivens. "I think there has been a breach with the female population, and I hope we can take actions to make sure that women are valued in this city when we call for help."
The Fort Worth Police Department will make regular updates to the City Council about their progress in clearing out the testing backlog.
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