KSP Receives $1.9 Million To Test Backlogged Rape Kits

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Kentucky State Police Forensic Laboratories have received a 1.9 million dollar grant from the District Attorney of New York County for DNA testing on un-analyzed sexual assault kits in Kentucky.

The funds will assist law enforcement agencies across the Commonwealth in processing the back logged kits.  In 2012, the KSP Laboratory staff began a statewide program to locate sexual assault evidence collection kits that had been sitting on the shelves of police storage facilities, having never been submitted to the lab for testing.  Some of these kits were from recent assaults and others from attacks years ago.

The KSP Laboratory applied for grant funding in May from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. The grant will fund the outsourcing of up to 3,300 kits and the formation of a Task Force to focus on policies for the automatic submission of sexual assault evidence collection kits.