Boston police report details shortcomings in department's crime lab
Document cites neglected evidence, leadership problems and staff divisions
Document cites neglected evidence, leadership problems and staff divisions
Document cites neglected evidence, leadership problems and staff divisions
Boston police have obtained new evidence from old sexual assault evidence collection kits by submitting them for advanced testing, but the promising development has stalled inside the department's crime lab as the suspected rapists' DNA profiles have sat unsubmitted for months, according to a report prepared by the department.
With the help of a federal grant, Boston police provided an outside lab with evidence from 100 older rape kits that previously had not yielded DNA profiles of the attackers. However, the new testing, performed by Bode Technology, a private lab in Virginia, provided Boston police with DNA profiles from 28 of the kits.
"These reports started coming back in October 2023, and we are awaiting for the review and upload of these profiles from our DNA section," reads the report, which details activity funded by the federal grant from Jan. 1 through March 31, 2024.
"Such a process has identified significant issues in the testing of these kits, and we are continuing to discuss with leadership necessary internal lab changes that must take place," the report said, including "making sure CODIS profiles are not sitting without being uploaded in a timely manner."
The DNA profiles need to be verified and uploaded to a federal database, called CODIS, which has the names and DNA profiles of more than 17 million offenders, to see if the Boston rapists' DNA matches the DNA of anyone named in the CODIS database.
The revelation about the delay is among the several problems cited in the report, which was submitted to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, a branch of the Department of Justice, and obtained by 5 Investigates under the state's Public Records Law. The federal grant is meant to help recipients investigate and solve cold cases and serial rapes by supporting access to the latest technology, such as advanced DNA testing, and helping pay for investigative work.
The revelation was a disappointment to state Rep. Natalie Higgins, herself a survivor of sexual assault, who has championed legislation requiring testing of all rape kits.
"My reaction is, 'Are you kidding? October of 2023, you've had DNA profiles that you still haven't uploaded?'" the Leominster Democrat said. "It's a complete injustice for survivors."
To Higgins, the delay was another sign that law enforcement does not appreciate the trauma that sexual assault survivors endure, not only from the assault but also from the invasive examination afterward, where evidence of the crime is gathered from their bodies.
"That represents a survivor who was courageous enough to come forward and report their sexual violence to law enforcement. And we have a duty and an obligation to seek justice for them and to make sure all of their evidence is treated with the respect and care that it deserves," Higgins said.
The Boston police report laid out other issues with the way the Boston Police Department is investigating these cases. Prominently mentioned is that the Boston Police Crime Lab is not using the most current technology on rape kits, a method of screening the samples for male DNA called Y-screening, as in looking for the male Y chromosome.
It's a faster and more efficient way of processing rape kits, and that's why labs across the country use it, including the Massachusetts State Police Crime Lab and labs in New York, Seattle and Philadelphia. But not Boston.
Asked about the lack of Y-screening, Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said at a Boston City Council hearing last month that what the police crime lab was using was "sufficient."
"There is always new, better things that might come out, but the fact is it does the same things. I would say the equipment we have is sufficient for what we have, what we need at this moment," he said.
But the report says otherwise.
"Y-screening is needed," it said. "The timely manner and efficient testing of these kits continues to be a barrier."
Higgins agreed with the report.
"It's not sufficient, and it's not the same," she said.
The report lays out additional concerns, including:
- "Chronic instability in departmental leadership," likely referring to the lab's director being on paid administrative leave for nearly two years
- The team paid for by the federal grant "has remained separate from the sexual assault unit due to systemic barriers"
- The two sworn investigators who were with the team were promoted to other positions, but, the report said, "We are hoping that filling the sworn slots and continued successes will influence further leadership buy in to allow systemic changes to be made in the way that these cases are investigated and handled.
"I think this report alone is showing why we need to use new technology, why we need to continue to do better," Higgins said.
A Boston police spokesperson disputed the timeline laid out in the report -- a report which was written by members of the Boston Police Department. In a statement to 5 Investigates, Boston Police claimed they didn't get the first results from the rape kit testing until January with the final report coming back in April. They added that 19 of the profiles have now been uploaded to the national database.
The spokesperson again told us that the department is working on implementing Y-screening in Boston.