APD: erasing DNA case backlog would cost $5.6M

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin’s Public Safety Commission wants City Council to find $5.6M this year to erase a growing case backlog nearing 1,500 cases. The new money will ‘clear the decks’ in 6-12 months in the words of longtime Commissioner Mike Levy and allow the now-shuttered lab to reopen with a clean start. Police confirm that is now on track to happen in February. The facility was shuttered in late May after an audit revealed staff were not keeping up