Despite spending millions rebuilding the Houston Police Department's troubled DNA lab, the department still cannot keep up with daily requests to test evidence gathered at crime scenes.

In addition, the lab still has a backlog of 4,076 untested rape kits dating to 1996, as well as 969 newer criminal cases awaiting DNA testing.

Citing the backlog, which she says grows by 75 cases a month, Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos has called for the establishment of an emergency city-county DNA lab to dispose of thousands of untested cases. A temporary lab, which some officials say could be outfitted in vacant labs at the Texas Medical Center for $1.3 million, would meet local needs until the construction of a regional crime lab that is part of Harris County's long-range plans.

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Here's the scoop: Some apartment complexes are using DNA testing on dog doo to find out who's not cleaning up after their pets.

[Guess they got their backlog taken care of...]

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Is the next step a state doggy DNA database?

Janette A

While the Houston PD did have some serious problems in the past, the fishbowl that they are in makes working very difficult.

The reason the backlog at many Crime Labs grow is because DNA catches criminals, even in burglary and low priority cases.

The more it works, the more the PD collects. I had a simple burglary once where the PD submitted over 100 swabs, from the toilet seat to the telephone to the sink drain.

Make some assumptions, collect a few swabs, and move on! Otherwise we spend thousnads of dollars and waste valuable time and cases get backlogged.

Do we give two detectives full-time for as long as they need to cover these cases?

Dr. Monte Miller
mmiller@forensicdnaexperts.com
www.forensicdnaexperts.com