29 July 2023
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says it has finished testing thousands of unprocessed sexual assault examination kits submitted by local law enforcement agencies.
In 2015, amid a national controversy over the issue, the BCA asked local law enforcement agencies for any untested kits. More than 2,300 were submitted for testing. The agencies cited various reasons for the unsubmitted kits, such as insufficient evidence, conflicting statements to investigators and dismissed charges.
Of the processed kits, 357 DNA profiles extracted from the kits matched someone who was listed in the state’s convicted sex offender database. About 130 of those were people not previously identified in sexual assault cases.
The BCA is working to improve turnaround time for kit testing. As a result, the agency anticipates a 90-day turnaround time on testing sexual assault kits by this fall.
“The BCA continues to look for ways to provide improved processes for victim survivors, local law enforcement agencies and in our own laboratories so that we can best serve victim survivors and the agencies investigating the incidents,” BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said in a statement. “These projects and steps illustrate our commitment to that continual improvement.”
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