TPD completes 50% of sexual assault exam backlog

TULSA, Okla. — The Tulsa Police Department has completed 50% of its significant backlog of sexual assault exams.

In 2017, nearly 4 thousand untested exams were detected.

As of November 2024, TPD’s Special Victims Unit Lt. Darin Erhenrich confirmed that they had tested nearly two thousand of them.

“We found that by testing these kits we identified patterns of behavior, we solved other crimes, and it was just a much better way of doing things,” Erhenrich said.

He explained that law enforcement has not always processed exams in the past for one reason or another.

But that changed in 2017 with an executive order from former Gov. Mary Fallin.

“Of the 2000 kits we sent for testing, we identified DNA profiles suitable for entering CODIS in 345,” Erhenrich said. “We received 183 CODIS hits out of 345 profiles uploaded to CODIS, so we identified a large number of criminals through this work.”
In calendar year 2024 alone, SVU received 1,280 reports.

This, along with untested kit, can bring the backlog to a halt.

Ehrenrich said that thanks to grant funding that started in 2018, they were able to collaborate with other laboratories in the state to increase the speed of testing.

“We outsourced to a lab in Oklahoma City and recently contracted with another lab,” he said. “As a result of our years of testing, we found that our capacity is approximately 150 kits per month.”

KJRH

Lori Gonzalez of Domestic Violence Intervention Services has been working in this field for over 20 years. He said the backlog of sexual assault cases is something he expects.

“We expect the number of exams to be over 500 this year, and that’s just for Tulsa and surrounding areas,” he said. “When you factor in the testing that’s happening in Oklahoma City and other places around the state, it’s only natural that this would happen, and we don’t have a lot of places that process these kits.”

Both Gonzalez and Ehrenrich say resources are to blame for years of backup.

But Oklahoma has made a huge effort to improve the process for those who survived and were brave enough to come forward.

“Right now the state is doing a lot of things to try to alleviate this problem, and one of the things they do is when someone comes in and buys a sexual assault kit, they get a number and they can track that kit and where the kit is in the process,” Gonzalez said. “So it looks like it was forwarded to the police and the police forwarded it to the lab so people know where they are in the process.”

While perpetrators do not stop committing crimes when there is a backlog, SVU is determined to get the problem under control.

“Let’s say the Bureau of Justice Assistance does not renew our grant this year, this state is committed, I’m sure we will find a funding source to make sure we continue this work,” Ehrenrich said. “This will not be left where it is right now. We will get through this backlog and make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else in the future.”

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