Thursday, Aug. 24, 2017 | 2:23 p.m.
CARSON CITY — A legislative committee today approved $1.3 million for the Las Vegas and Reno police departments to reduce a backlog in testing rape evidence kits.
In written testimony to the Legislative Interim Finance Committee, Attorney General Adam Laxalt said the money will come from settlement funds and will be added to $3 million provided by the Legislature.
In some cases, police agencies are sending evidence kits to private labs or the FBI for testing to help reduce backlogs.
“While outsourcing provides a stopgap, it is not a long-term to the deep structural problems affecting the central forensic science component of our criminal justice system,” according to the written testimony released today.
