The New York State Police’s Forensic Investigation Center (FIC) has an 88% backlog of sexual assault cases that will take at least two more years to clear, according to a recent audit.
As of Oct. 31, 2019, the FIC had 1,916 kits that needed to be processed, and the required processing time of 90 days had elapsed for 1,681 of them, or 88%.
In 2016, an executive law required all law enforcement agencies to submit untested kits in their possession to a forensic laboratory by the end of 2017. An amendment to the law required kits received before Feb. 26, 2017 to be processed and results reported within 210 days of receipt, while kits received after that day had to be processed within 90 days.
Of the 1,656 kits processed from Nov. 28, 2017 to Oct. 31, 2019, only 21% (356) were processed in compliance with the timeline. For 928 sexual assault kits, the FIC took more than double the allotted time to process them.
That being said, the audit did confirm the FIC has increased the number of kits completed year-over-year by 64%—from 609 in 2018 to 997 in 2019. The increase is a result of a number of elements, including the addition of 18 forensic scientists in FY 2017-18, as well as the addition of analytical space in the laboratory. The FIC also retrofitted office space and relocated non-bioscience laboratory staff.
Most importantly, the FIC implemented a Y-screening technique for sexual assault samples that decreased processing time by about 79 percent. Average kit analysis time dropped from 138 to 28 days. However, that is based on the time range from when a forensic scientist starts processing the kit, not when the FIC receives the kit. The “holding time,” or time between when a sexual assault kit arrives at FIC and when an analyst begins processing, is 236 days—a major factor in the still-significant backlog.
FIC leaders say this is because of the unprecedented and unexpected influx of sexual assault kits post-Executive Law, as well as kit submissions from law enforcement with poor paperwork.
Data indicate law enforcement submitted 2,227 kits to the FIC in 2017 after the Executive Law was passed—more than three times the number of kits received the prior year. Officials say this was wholly unexpected, as there was never a uniform tracking system of kits at the local, state or federal levels, so the FIC “could not accurately anticipate the number of kits it would receive.”
“The substantial increase in the number of kits has been further complicated by the fact that many of the kit submissions in 2017 included little, if any, information necessary to ascertain whether a kit might yield a CODIS-eligible profile,” reads a letter from Keith Corlett, New York State Police Superintendent, in response to the audit. “The required paperwork submitted with many kits lacked any detail about the case or included vague and conclusory assertations suggesting no crime was committed.”
The FIC also processes kits and evidence related to death and homicide investigations, so some kits, due to criminal proceedings, take precedence over others. However, over half of FIC’s DNA analysts work primarily on sexual assault kits.
Photo: The location of the four NYSP crime laboratories. The FIC, in Albany, is depicted with the larger star. Credit: NYSP.