http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_4997669
L.A. police have 5,000 rape kits to test
The Associated Press
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Article Launched:01/12/2007 12:00:00 AM PST

SACRAMENTO - The Los Angeles Police Department has a backlog of more than 5,000 rape kits that have not undergone DNA-testing because of a lack of resources, police and rape victim advocates said.
"Every day, there are citizens in our state who are being sexually assaulted and otherwise victimized when they don't have to be. This is happening because our state and local laboratories lack the resources they need to utilize the forensic science of DNA effectively," Gale Abarbanel, director of the Santa Monica-UCLA Rape Treatment Center, said Wednesday.

While some kits don't require immediate analysis, many go untouched because of resource shortfalls, said Yvette Sanchez-Owens, the commander of the Los Angeles Police Department's crime lab.

"There are times where they know the suspect already has confessed, so there is no need to process the kit," Sanchez-Owens said. "In a perfect world, we would like to test every sample. But our reality is we don't have the resources to get there."

Sanchez-Owens said a budget has been sent to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa that would more than double the size of the DNA staff from 29 to 71 during a two-year period.

Jack Weiss, a Los Angeles City Councilman who heads the council's Public Safety Committee, agreed that the department's DNA testing capacity had to be expanded.

"I've been pushing on both fronts," Weiss said. "The LAPD needs to expand its DNA testing capabilities, and the state needs to accelerate its testing."