Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes said Tuesday that his department has completed testing and analysis of 190 additional sexual assault evidence kits in the last several weeks, as the department works to clear a massive backlog, first made public in an NBC 5 Investigation.
Noakes briefed city council members on the department’s efforts to address the problems. He said that while the nearly two hundred kits have been recently completed, 708 are still backlogged.
In October, NBC 5 Investigates reported state records showed Fort Worth Police had more than 900 rape kits that had already exceeded the state’s 90-day testing and analysis deadline. Our reporting also uncovered state records showing Fort Worth missed the 30-day deadline to submit kits to a lab more than 750 times, since 2019.
In brief comments after Tuesday’s council meeting, Noakes told NBC 5 that he wished he had done more to address the problems months ago, as he and others in the department began to learn more about the backlog.
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“I wish I'd stayed more involved, more engaged, asked more questions, pushed harder. I wish I had asked for more updates than I did because we've known about this long enough to get it done and it's not done, and that's not acceptable. We are getting more done now than we have – ever,” Noakes said.
Noakes told council members Tuesday that police detectives are now in the process of contacting each victim affected by the delays to update them on the status of their kit. He said that, thus far, the department did not believe that the delays had compromised the judicial process in any pending cases.
Noakes said the department is also in the process of scheduling job interviews with candidates to fill five vacant crime lab positions, which the department has said contributed to testing delays. He said as the department works to fill vacant positions, it has also reached out to the Tarrant County Medical Examiners office for assistance in handling new sex assault evidence so that the Fort Worth Police Crime Lab can focus on clearing backlogged cases.
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In the council briefing Tuesday, Noakes said the department is working to boost the pay for crime lab DNA scientists by 9% to retain employees and that it will offer a $4,000 incentive to current employees working extra hours to assist with the backlog.
Noakes reiterated that the department’s goal is to clear all backlogged kits by no later than April 2025.
Mayor Pro-Tem Gyna Bivens thanked Noakes for his efforts to address the problem while noting that the backlog has been a serious blow to crime victims, the city and the department.
“This has been a very ugly story for us to deal with”, Bivens said.
She added that the department must address the problems and show that, “women are valued” when they reach out for help.
