Content disclosure: This article discusses sexual assault.
Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes vowed Tuesday afternoon to right the wrongs created by his department that led to a backlog of untested sexual assault evidence kits.
“I take full responsibility for the situation we’re in right now, and I take full responsibility for correcting this and getting this right,” Noakes said. “Victims deserve better, and they will receive better.”
Noakes’ promise came during an Oct. 22 City Council meeting, where he delivered an update on the police department’s crime lab, which runs its own forensic biology testing. An NBC DFW investigation earlier this month found that the Fort Worth Police Department has failed hundreds of times to test sexual assault evidence kits in the length of time required by state law.
Under state law passed in 2019, law enforcement agencies must submit evidence kits to the lab within 30 days of receiving them. Then, the lab is required to test the kits within 90 days. Of the more than 1,700 kits collected by the department since 2019, 767 kits arrived late to the lab, 412 were submitted more than 100 days late, and 28 were submitted more than a year late, according to NBC’s report.
Noakes said the department’s backlog is “completely unacceptable,” and the department is urgently looking at options to ensure such an issue can never happen again. He anticipates the backlog to be fully addressed by April 2025.
Mayor Mattie Parker said city leaders must work urgently to address the backlog and address the matter. Addressing residents, she said the matter is a top priority for council members, and she apologized to survivors of sexual assault that the backlog impacts.
“If we’re going to have a crime lab in the city of Fort Worth, it is going to be best in class. Period, end of story,” Parker said. “We have a short timeline to achieve that because we’ve lost the public trust, and I understand why.”
Noakes said a staffing shortage within the crime lab led to the backlog. Of the lab’s eight forensic science positions, there are currently five vacancies.
The department has one forensic scientist who is certified to review and enter evidence into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, a national database of DNA profiles that law enforcement uses to solve crimes. The lab’s assistant director is also certified, and the two other forensic scientists are under training to get certified, with their training expected to be complete by spring 2025.
The lab has faced scrutiny in recent years, including three investigations by the Texas Forensic Science Commission since 2020. Noakes fired the crime lab’s director in June 2023, citing his failures to properly manage the lab. The director, Michael Ward, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram he believed his termination had to do with internal politics.
Earlier this year, City Council members approved an $850,000 payout to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by a former forensic scientist. The former employee said she was fired in 2021 after reporting policy violations.
During the Tuesday meeting, Noakes said staffing shortages are no excuse for the lab’s failures.
There are 969 untested kits that have not gone through the entire process to be marked as complete in the state’s tracking system, Noakes said. Of those, 779 kits have already been tested but are waiting to be reviewed and entered into the CODIS database.
The remaining 190 kits were mailed out for testing Oct. 18, Noakes said. Of those, 119 kits had already passed the required 90-day timeframe for testing.
Internally, the police department has implemented several changes to increase oversight of the crime lab, Noakes said. Now, the city manager’s office and police department will actively oversee the lab.
The police department is actively seeking to fill the vacancies in the crime lab, Noakes said.
“We’re not just looking for people to hire and train,” Noakes told council members. “We are looking for people who are already trained, already certified and want to work for the city of Fort Worth so we can get the job done much quicker.”
The department is also offering $4,000 incentives to current crime lab employees to address the backlog. In the meantime, Noakes said they are also trying to outsource work to trained forensic scientists on a contract basis.
Council members Gyna Bivens, Elizabeth Beck, Chris Nettles, Jared Williams and Carlos Flores thanked Noakes for his transparency during the presentation but expressed frustration and disappointment at the backlog. They each urged Noakes and the police department to work with a sense of urgency to address the issue.
“I can’t say enough how much this hurts us to know that we have hurt others. We don’t want to retraumatize these victims, we don’t want to lose trust with our residents here in Fort Worth,” Noakes said. “We’re going to do everything we can to earn that trust back, we’re going to do everything we can to show that we’ll take care of this problem. We’re not going to let this happen again.”
Noakes is expected to update council members on the crime lab’s work to address the backlog at their next work session meeting Nov. 5.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence, it’s not your fault. You are not alone. Help is available 24/7 through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE or visit the Online Hotline, y en español en RAINN.
Cecilia Lenzen is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at cecilia.lenzen@fortworthreport.org or @bycecilialenzen.
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This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.