Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen says the police’s Forensic Science Laboratory has made good progress easing the backlog of cases that need DNA testing.
Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen has praised the police for easing the backlog of cases needing DNA testing.
The backlog had dropped this year from 25 290 cases on Wednesday August 24 to 15 259 by Wednesday November 23, he said.
There had been 89 158 cases at the start of October last year, which meant the police’s Forensic Science Laboratory had worked through more than 73 000 samples.
“Eradicating this backlog is paramount, as these samples are vital in cases of sexual assault, murders and various other matters,” he said, adding that, according to the latest Court Watching Briefs report, 208 cases had been struck off court rolls in the province from the beginning of July to the end of September due to investigations being incomplete and for various other reasons.
“Of these, 64 (30%) were gender-based violence matters. There are many GBV matters, such as rape, sexual assault, attempted murder and other contact crimes that are dependent on the results from the lab,” said Mr Allen.
The courts monitored in that period were in Khayelitsha, Bishop Lavis, Mitchell’s Plain, Bellville, Wynberg, Athlone, Goodwood, Kuils River, Atlantis, Malmesbury, Vredenburg, Ceres, George, Mossel Bay and Knysna, said Mr Allen.
The top-five police stations with the highest number of incomplete investigations were Atlantis, Kraaifontein, Ravensmead, Kuils River and Ocean View, he said.
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