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Austin City Council votes tomorrow to create a new, independent forensics crime lab — that's separate from APD. This move have been YEARS in the making. I wrote about APD's very troubled lab & the debate to separate the 2 entities in 2016 https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2016-12-02/the-future-of-austins-crime-lab/
Background: APD's lab was closed in the summer of 2016 for to poorly trained staff and the use of outdated, faulty procedures, among other issues
By Christmas 2016 APD threw in the towel and gave up hopes of reopening their lab: "We have failed in the area that's under question now," Manley, who had just become interim chief, said at the time. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2016-12-23/apd-shuts-down-effort-to-reopen-crime-lab/
Of course, the lab's closure led to the realization of a massive rape kit backlog. By February Austin Police accumulated more than 4,000 untested rape kits https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2017-02-24/whos-testing-apds-backlog-of-evidence/
And then, in July 2017 we learned that mold was growing on the exteriors of 849 rape kits stored inside the police department's evidence warehouse. But APD knew about this for months https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2017-07-07/apd-knew-about-moldy-rape-kits-back-in-april/
The saga only got more intense from there. Advocates demanded transparency, accountability, change. The former DA defended APD and stopped working with advocates working to support rape survivors https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2019-03-15/painful-splits-along-the-way-to-stopping-sexual-assault-in-and-around-austin/
And let's not forget that APD supposedly got all the kits tested in Nov. 2018 -- Just in time to learn that the dept. had been incorrectly closing rape cases for years https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2018-11-16/rape-kit-backlog-cleared-now-what/
In February 2019 Council called for a 3rd party audit of the dept's handling of sexual assault cases. We're still waiting on the findings of this audit https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2019-02-06/council-calls-for-independent-audit-of-apds-rape-cases/
All that's to say, tomorrow's Council vote is a long time coming. I hope the new lab is held to higher standards.
As a reporter who's spent so long tracking this, it's hard to be watch this one from the sidelines. But I'm excited to see what it brings. Trust, I'll be watching.
As a reporter who's spent so long tracking this, it's hard to be watch this one from the sidelines. But I'm excited to see what it brings. Trust, I'll be watching.
And I have great faith in @mclarkmadison @daustinsanders and the rest of the Chron team
