Houston police reviewing if DNA tests could have helped in thousands of dropped cases
Associated PressHOUSTON — Houston police said Thursday that they are still reviewing if DNA testing in connection with thousands of sexual assault and sex crime cases that were dropped due to staffing issues could have led officers to potential suspects and possible arrests. The more than 4,000 sexual assault cases that were dropped by police in the past eight years are part of more than 264,000 incident reports that were never submitted for investigation as officers assigned them an internal code that cited a lack of available personnel. Elizabeth Lorenzana said that after meeting March 27 with the city’s crime lab, the Houston Forensic Science Center, officials were told that of the 4,000 sexual assault incident reports, more than 1,100 had sexual assault kits that had been tested for DNA. This is Houston, this is HPD and I expect better.” Last month Mayor John Whitmire announced the creation of an independent panel to review police handling of the dropped incident reports.
History of this topic
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