ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - The Florida Department of Law Enforcement says nearly 11,000 rape kits have not been submitted for analysis.
In a spreadsheet released on its website Tuesday, the FDLE tallied 10,900 kits that have not been tested. The data came from 262 law enforcement agencies around the state. Seven law enforcement agencies did not report data.
The agency says the data is preliminary and agencies might update the information.
The figures mirror those nationwide as agencies across the U.S. struggle to process backlogs of sexual assault kits.
The department is conducting a more than $300,000 study on the number of untested kits and will present the findings to the Legislature in January.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has called for more funding in the next state budget to process the kits.
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