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Phoenix, Maricopa County get US grants for rape kit testing

Posted at 3:08 PM, Oct 04, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-05 01:55:57-04
New federal grants to two law enforcement agencies in the Phoenix area will be used to test sexual assault evidence for DNA.
   
The Justice Department has awarded $1.2 million to the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and $1.5 million to the Phoenix Police Department.
   
County Attorney Bill Montgomery says his office will use its grant money to analyze previously untested evidence and for investigation and prosecution work involving the evidence.
   
Assistant Police Chief Mary Roberts says Phoenix will use its funding for steps supporting the city's policy for testing all sex crime evidence.
   
Roberts says DNA evidence isn't need in all individual sexual assault cases due to circumstances of those cases but she says test results can still help link defendants to other cases.