Non-profit organisation Action Society has dismissed the DNA backlog numbers provided by Police Minister Bheki Cele as misleading and not being an accurate reflection of the backlog faced.
The organisation said there were about 18 000 new entries monthly and that it was impossible to bring down the total backlog, adding that the office was ring-fencing the original total from last year and not considering new cases.
Police Oversight and Community Safety MEC Reagen Allen reported on Sunday that the DNA backlog at the provincial police Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) showed a reduction from 25 290 in August to 15 259 last month, a reduction of 10 031 in the backlog.
Allen said this meant that since October 1 last year, when the backlog stood at 89 158, the FSL had worked through 73 899 samples.
Read more here: https://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/news/dna-backlog-numbers-by-police-are-misleading-says-action-society-d57c4c0d-46cb-4ea6-bf8b-4d3798e8ea58