New Orleans rape-kit backlog will be tested by start of 2012, police say

New Orleans police officials said Wednesday more than 800 untested rape kits will be tested by the beginning of next year, clearing up a backlog that includes physical evidence from sexual assaults dating to the late 1980s. Police Commander Paul Noel, who heads the NOPD’s criminal investigations division, said the testing will be done by Marshall University in West Virginia, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Police’s crime laboratory. Testing of all kits collected by the NOPD since January is done by a DNA specialist hired by the NOPD who works out of the state lab