(COLUMBUS, Ohio) -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today announced that forensic scientists with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) have now tested more than 6,200 sexual assault kits as part of a special initiative to test rape kits that had not before been tested for DNA.
As of February 1, 2015, BCI forensic scientists have tested 6,275 rape kits as part of Attorney General DeWine's Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Testing Initiative. The DNA testing has resulted in 2,369 hits to DNA already in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).
"Each kit tested is one more step toward justice for victims," said Attorney General DeWine.
In all, 149 law enforcement agencies from across Ohio have submitted a total of 9,120 kits for testing. In Cuyahoga County alone, more than 245 defendants have been indicted following testing conducted as part of the effort.
Attorney General DeWine launched the initiative after learning that dozens of law enforcement agencies across the state were in possession of rape kits, some of which were decades old, that had never been sent to a DNA lab for testing. Attorney General DeWine then made an open call to law enforcement to send their kits to BCI for DNA testing free of charge.
To handle the influx of the thousands of kits, Attorney General DeWine hired ten additional BCI forensic scientists to ensure the timely analysis of kits submitted as part of the SAK Testing Initiative. By hiring this additional staff, the older kits are tested as quickly as possible, without slowing down the testing of the nearly 6,600 rape kits associated with recent crimes tested by BCI since 2011.
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Media Contacts:
Dan Tierney: 614-466-3840
Jill Del Greco: 614-466-3840