New Hampshire will implement a new system to keep track of evidence in sexual assault cases after finding that nearly 600 rape kits had not been submitted to the state crime lab.
The Executive Council on Wednesday approved a $104,000 federal grant for a Justice Department position and automated system to track the handling of sexual assault kits. When the state applied for the grant in May, there were 582 kits in more than 90 police departments that hadn't been sent to the lab.
The organization that trains nurses to examine victims estimates 300 kits are collected each year. It called the backlog unacceptable.
Attorney General Gordon MacDonald said he wants to be proactive and doesn't put New Hampshire in the same category as other states that have enormous backlogs.
