TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Police Department has worked through 50% of a significant backlog of sexual assault exams.
In 2017, nearly four thousand untested exams were identified.
As of Nov. 2024, TPD's Special Victims' Unit Lt. Darin Erhenrich confirmed they've tested nearly two thousand of those.
“We’re finding that by testing these kits, we’re identifying patterns of behavior, we’re solving other crimes, it’s just a much better way of doing things," said Erhenrich.
He explained law enforcement didn't always process the exams in the past, for one reason or another.
But that changed in 2017, with an executive order from former Gov. Mary Fallin.
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"Of those 2000 kits that we’ve sent off for testing, we’ve identified DNA profiles that are eligible to be entered into CODIS in 345 of those kits," said Erhenrich. "Of those 345 profiles that have been uploaded into CODIS, we’ve received 183 CODIS hits, so we’ve identified a lot of offenders through this work.”
In the 2024 calendar year alone, SVU has received 1,280 reports.
That, on top of the untested kit, can keep that backlog at a standstill.
Through grant funding that started in 2018, Ehrenrich said they've been able to collaborate with other labs across the state to quicken the pace of testing.
"We outsourced with a lab in Oklahoma City, and most recently, we’ve also contracted with another lab," he said. "Through the years of testing that we’ve done, we’re now finding that our capacity is about 150 kits a month.”
Lori Gonzalez, of Domestic Violence Intervention Services, has been in this field for more than 20 years. She said a backlog in sexual assault cases is something she's grown to expect.
“We’re looking at being more than 500 [exams] this year, and that’s just Tulsa and surrounding areas," she said. “When you look at factoring in the exams that happened in Oklahoma City and other places across the state, it’s just natural that it’s going to happen, and we don’t have that many places that actually process those kits.”
Both Gonzalez and Ehrenrich say resources are to blame for the years-long backup.
But, Oklahoma has made a big push to improve the process for those survivors courageous enough to come forward.
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"Right now the state is doing lots of stuff to alleviate that issue, and so one of the things they do is when somebody comes in and gets a sexual assault kit, they get a number and they can track that kit and where that kit is at in the process," said Gonzalez. "So it shows like it was passed on to police, and police passed it on to the lab, so people know where it’s at in the process.”
While perpetrators don't just stop committing crimes when there is a backlog, SVU is committed to getting the problem under control.
"Let’s say that the Bureau of Justice Assistance didn’t renew our grant this year, this state is dedicated, I’m sure that we would find some funding source to make sure that we continue this work," said Ehrenrich. "This work is not going to be left where it is right now. We’re going to get through this backlog, and make sure that this doesn’t happen to anyone else in the future."
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