Fort Worth police department’s untested sexual assault kit backlog sees decrease from October

The Fort Worth Police Department is waiting on a contract with the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office to address the crime lab's backlog of untested sexual assault evidence kits. That backlog has recently decreased, according to police Chief Neil Noakes.

As of Nov. 4, the police department reported 708 overdue sexual assault cases. That's down from the 898 overdue cases reported Oct. 11, Noakes said during a Tuesday City Council meeting.

The medical examiner's office has agreed to assist the police department's crime lab in addressing sexual assault cases, according to Noakes. Due to the FBI's restrictions and limitations on entries into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, the medical examiner's office will only assist with new cases the police department receives. This will take effect when the city attorney's office approves the contract, Noakes told council members.

The partnership with the medical examiner's office comes after Noakes vowed during an Oct. 22 City Council meeting to correct the backlog at the police department's crime lab. An NBC DFW investigation from early October revealed the department failed on several accounts to test sexual assault evidence kits within the timeframe mandated by state law.

The crime lab has faced employee turnover , a whistleblower lawsuit and three investigations by the Texas Forensic Science Commission since 2020. Going forward, the lab will focus on overdue cases as the medical examiner's office takes on new cases, Noakes said.

The department's crime lab is also in talks with the Dallas County Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences' medical examiner's office. Once a contract is finalized, the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office will accept testing and CODIS entries that the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office does not have the bandwidth to take on.

The police department is awaiting approval from the FBI to determine if CODIS sexual assault kit entries can be outsourced to other labs.

To further address cases, 30 detectives have been assigned to contact every sexual assault victim with a backlogged kit, according to Noakes. By Nov. 6, each victim with an unidentified suspect in their case should receive a call, Noakes said.

Council member Gyna Bivens commended the police department's newly instated communication policy, but also asked Noakes what the process will look like after outreach to sexual assault victims has been made.

"We get the calls when your office doesn't respond to them and that shouldn't be a position we're put in," Bivens told Noakes.

Detectives are required to contact victims of sexual assault should a delay in testing arise, per a new police department policy, Noakes added.

In conjunction with working on the backlog, the police department is looking at potential candidates to fill the crime lab's forensic scientist vacancies, Noakes added. He said at the Oct. 22 City Council meeting that a staffing shortage in the lab led to the backlog. Of the lab's eight forensic science positions, five of them are vacant.

"It was very embarrassing for me for (NBC DFW) to tell me, 'Gyna, the jobs aren't even posted,'" Bivens said, referencing an interview she did with the news outlet.

Council member Jared Williams suggested Noakes hire more than the five positions if the funding is available.

"If there is support needed and we find that there are more than five great candidates, I would certainly be open to us looking at positions and seeing if we can hire more given the urgency of this backlog," said Williams.

Noakes said the police department is working with urgency but is also ensuring candidates meet all of the requirements expected out of the lab's DNA scientists.