September 12, 2014

Las Vegas, NV – Congresswoman Dina Titus of Nevada’s First District announced today that the Department of Justice has awarded over $650,000 in grant money to the Las Vegas Metro Police Department to assist in reducing the current backlog of rape kits and other forensic DNA samples. The Las Vegas police DNA lab, which serves nearly three-quarters of the state’s population, currently has only a dozen scientists to process forensic DNA from crime scenes and rape kits in the Metro area. 

“Every two minutes, someone in the United States is the victim of a sexual assault.  That is an average of 207,754 victims each year,” said Titus. “And in Nevada alone, 463,000 women have been the victim of some kind of sexual assault during their lifetime, and approximately 252,000 have been the victim of rape. Meanwhile, approximately 400,000 rape kits currently sit untested in crime labs and on police storage shelves across the nation.”

Congresswoman Titus is a cosponsor of H.R. 354, the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Reporting (SAFER) Act, which targets existing federal funds for the processing of rape kits and related law enforcement activities. The House passed this legislation as part of the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in February 2013.

“This grant money is the perfect way to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the passage of the Violence Against Women Act. Justice should not be denied or delayed because of lack of funds,” said Titus.