LAPD can hire new staff to reduce DNA backlog

— Los Angeles police have won permission to hire more DNA analysts to deal with a backlog of rape evidence that infuriated victim's rights advocates.

A city hiring committee last week reversed its earlier decision and granted an exemption to the city's hiring freeze for 26 crime lab staffers.

However, police say there's only enough time to hire 11 before the fiscal year ends.

In 2008, city officials unveiled a multiyear plan to reduce a backlog of about 7,500 kits that contain evidence for rape cases. Police used private labs to reduce that to 1,300 cases but the department gets about 90 new cases a month.

Police say the 11 additional lab staffers won't be enough to keep pace so the City Council may vote on whether to allocate money to keep using private labs.


Information from: Los Angeles Times,

The Associated Press


