+34The state requires law enforcement to send kits for analysis within a month, but the San Antonio Police Department missed this deadline nearly 10% of the time
The San Antonio Police Department failed to meet a state-mandated guideline in its handling of nearly 10% of sexual assault test kits collected over a two-year period, a new city audit found. The kits include DNA evidence such as bodily fluids and skin cells, which are gathered by medical professionals in hospitals after an attack.
The test results can be invaluable in sexual assault investigations. The state requires law enforcement agencies to send the kits to a crime lab for analysis within 30 days, but from Oct. 1, 2021 through Sept. 18, 2023, SAPD missed that deadline 117 times. The department handled 1,249 kits that fell within San Antonio police jurisdiction during that period. It submitted 91 of the late kites — known as sexual assault nurse examination, or SANE, kits — to the Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory within two months. The other 26 sat on a shelf for 61 days or more. Some of the longest delays resulted from hospital nurses logging incorrect case numbers on kits they submitted SAPD, which slows the department's process for sending the tests to the lab, according to Captain Rene Gallegos. 'It kind of gets lost,' Gallegos said. 'We had a few of those, but they were few and far between.' READ MORE: Councilman Marc Whyte seeks swift dismissal of ethics complaint But most of the missed deadlines were because of slow internal processes. In response to the city audit's findings, SAPD shook up how it handled the kits to consistently meet the 30-day deadline. SAPD added a second courier so that tests are taken to the county four times a week instead of two. Also, the evidence room staff that keeps the tests now reminds the department's special victims unit — which investigates sexual assault cases — of pending test kits once a week, instead of every other week as it previously did. Gallegos said all of the late kits highlighted in the audit have been sent for analysis, and that there were no kits waiting to be taken to the county lab as of Tuesday morning. The City Council's Audit Committee, which is made up of three council and two community members, accepted the report on Tuesday with little discussion. District 9 Councilman John Courage said he was initially concerned about the SANE kit findings in the audit, but added that he was satisfied the police department was fixing the problem.
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Audit Committee Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory City Council Rene Gallegos John Courage Marc Whyte Kevin Barthold San Antonio
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