SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – What was once a decades-long problem for Illinois State Police and local police departments has now become a thing of the past.
The State Police says the backlog of forensic and DNA kits to be examined in relation to violent crimes is now at zero.
“To reduce crime and bring justice and healing to survivors, we have to solve crime,” said Brendan Kelly, ISP Director. “Through the implementation of new forensic technologies, including robotics, we have reduced our turnaround times for processing evidence — bringing those who break the law more quickly to justice.”
State law which took effect in 2010 required State Police to have all testing done within 180 days if there were “sufficient resources.”
“Over the last several decades, with swelling evidence submissions and unstable funding for hiring and investing in technology, a backlog of evidence awaiting testing continuously grew,” said Kelly.
Now, after years of underfunding, Kelly says resources are in place through multiple labs to eliminate backlogs, and continue to update training and technology standards — all, he says, to help victims and their families get justice.
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