The City Council plans to look into ways to resolve a “staffing shortage” at the Boston Police Crime Laboratory that is leading to a significant delay in testing the sexual assault kits that are crucial to work aimed at identifying alleged rapists.
The hearing order, introduced Wednesday by City Councilor Ed Flynn, is also intended to foster a future discussion around how to provide more resources to the crime laboratory, which Flynn says is a “critical part” of the police department.
The lab, he states in the order, performs work around processing, examining and analyzing evidence, including sexual assault kits, that is “indispensable” to the department’s ability to investigate and solve crimes.”
A staffing shortage at the crime lab, however, is hindering its ability to meet state-mandated guidelines of testing sexual assault kits within 30 days.
“It’s critical we address this situation and provide justice for anyone who’s a victim of sexual assault,” Flynn said at the day’s City Council meeting.
His order cites an annual report from the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security that found half, or 93 of 186 kits, were not tested within that 30-day window in fiscal year 2023 — from June 2022 to June 2023.
While the staffing shortage is mentioned as a persistent issue at the Boston Police Crime Lab since EOPSS began issuing an annual report in 2020, the numbers are more stark when compared to prior years at the city police lab, and comparable work done at the State Police Crime Laboratory, per the order.
In FY22, the BPD crime lab failed to test 39 of the 144 sexual assault kits within 30 days, and 24 of the 123 kits in FY21, or roughly 27% and 19.5%, respectively. The State Police Crime Laboratory tested 96% of the 714 kits it received within 30 days in FY23, the order states.
In the order, referred to the Public Safety and Criminal Justice committee, Flynn suggests that the Council use a future hearing to examine the underlying cause of the staffing shortage at the crime lab and discuss ways to provide more resources that can help lab workers improve processing turnaround time.
This, the order states, could include potential equipment upgrades or new methods of evidence processing aimed at making the lab work easier and more efficient.