Sexual Assault Kit Backlog

January 13, 2017 – There is a backlog of 5,440 sexual assault kits around the state according to an audit released by the State auditor’s office in December.

NMIF producer Sarah Gustavus sat down with the Tim Keller, the state auditor, and Jim Harvey, executive director of the Rape Crisis Center of Central New Mexico, to discuss what could be done legislatively and communally to address this backlog.

            “The audit provides a roadmap for our state to both clear the existing backlog, and once its cleared, to ensure that this never happens again,” Keller said in a recent statement  

According to the audit, a large majority of untested kits are in Bernalillo County. 3,948 or 73 percent of total amount of kits are in the county.

The other counties were separated into regions around the state. The northwest region has 11 percent, southeast has 10 percent, southwest has three percent and northeast has less than one percent.