Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos has called for the establishment of an emergency city-county DNA lab in Houston to handle thousands of untested pieces of evidence. The lab would be a temporary measure until the new regional crime lab is built.

The recently rebuilt Houston Police Department DNA lab is still having difficulties keeping up with the demand for testing. In addition to the 75 cases added to their backlog each month, the lab still has a backlog of 4,076 untested rape kits dating to 1996, as well as 969 newer criminal cases awaiting DNA testing.

For now the HPD lab is coping with the backlog by hiring new analysts and purchasing automated equipment to upgrade their lab. The lab applied for a $1.1 million federal grant to hire 10 temporary criminologists.

Source: Houston Chronicle