Tennessee sexual assault kits head to Florida for testing

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is getting assist processing tons of of sexual assault kits. This comes as they’re attempting to hurry up the method.

The TBI obtained $1.5 million from the federal authorities and to date they’ve despatched 550 kits to a DNA lab in South Florida.

Right here is the breakdown:

• 250 from the Jackson Crime Laboratory
• 250 from Knoxville
• 50 from Nashville

If there may be extra grant funding obtainable this 12 months the TBI plans to submit as much as 1,000 of those kits costing greater than $2,000 a equipment.
“This outsourcing mission helps us take a right away step, as we proceed to debate longer-term fixes. We’re hopeful the Basic Meeting will approve finances enhancements known as for in Governor Lee’s plan, which we imagine addresses key staffing and useful resource wants to higher place the Bureau for a shiny future,” TBI Director David Rausch mentioned in an announcement.

Concurrently all that is taking place, there’s a invoice making its manner by the legislature that will require the TBI to investigate a equipment inside 30 days of getting it.

The invoice is on the Senate Judiciary Committee calendar for Tuesday.