By AP
DETROIT – A Michigan State University study will look at how long it might take to clear a huge backlog of rape evidence kits that were never analyzed by the former Detroit Police crime laboratory.
When the lab closed in April 2008, 10,500 kits were discovered.
The Detroit News reports that under the initiative, 400 kits will be selected at random and analyzed by private labs. Michigan State will then look at that data to determine how much time is needed to clear the rest of the cases, and how much it might cost.
The Michigan State Police, which processes rape kits for more than 600 law enforcement agencies across the state, is funding the project.
A previous estimate of outsourcing such work calculated it would take 2 1/2 years and $15 million to complete.