OLYMPIA, Wash. — The Washington State Patrol and Attorney General’s Office received nearly $5.3-million in grants to reduce the state’s backlog of untested rape kits and improve capacity of crime labs.
The Attorney General’s Office received funds to inventory, test, and track unsubmitted rape kits.
It also received a grant to expand DNA collection from offenders and submit it to a DNA database.
The Patrol was awarded funds to increase its crime lab capacity and a second grant to digitize and store some 480,000 case records currently archived in off-site storage.