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AG Ferguson commits $750,000 to test more than 1,000 rape kits

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Tuesday that his office has committed $750,000 in grant funds test untested rape kits. This grant is part of his Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, and the first round of funds is expected to test more than 1,000 kits.

On Monday, the Senate Committee on Law & Justice heard that the backlog of untested rape kits at the State Crime Lab is about 10,000. In January, KIRO 7's Amy Clancy reported that Washington State Patrol, who is responsible for the testing, would need more than $6 million to process all backlogged rape kits.

Because state patrol is responsible for all law enforcement DNA testing, they would send kits to an outside lab and then get reimbursed through the AG office's grant funds.

The AG's office will also track cases if testing results in DNA matches.

Ferguson originally applied for a grant from the Department of Justice in April 2017, which awarded the office $750,000 in October 2017. The office received the funds in April 2018. The first round of funding helped to create the Sexual Assault Kit Initiative Team, which conducts a statewide inventory of unsubmitted sexual assault kits.

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