Damning Opinion Piece About MPD and the State of Tennessee Forensic Department

[Moped]

Meghan Ybos puts the facts out there about MPD and the State Forensic Department responsible for processing rape test kits.  I think she has a valid point!

After Eliza Fletcher's murder, authorities don't have their priorities right | Opinion (yahoo.com)

[Frog4aday]

Failing to process rape kits is beyond my comprehension. Just do it. Allocate the resources & get it done. With the DNA database growing daily, more & more violent predators can be caught & locked away. Yet...it isn't happening. The world feels "broken".

[Grayfox54]

MPD has been a mess for many years and it just keeps getting worse. Everyone knows, or at least believes, that the new Police Chief Cerelyn Davis was hired not for her qualifications, but simply because she was the politically correct choice. So far she hasn't impressed me or anyone I know at all. 

The rape kit problem has been well known for at least 10 years. The Eliza Fletcher case  brought it to the front once again. But I did notice that getting her kit tested was bumped to the front of the line due to the publicity. But what about the victims who have been waiting years for justice? 

The other day Gov. Lee announced that 25 more lab techs will be hired for the State lab. But hiring and training new people will take time and the backlog is years long. Plus all these new people will need lab space to work and equipment. Don't expect anything to change anytime soon. 

[Pain103]

I think if more people understood the numbers of blood kits, DNA samples, and rape kits that were submitted and the time each takes and amount of forensic scientist they would be shocked. The new scientists will help but realistically you want a state lab it has to be funded and staffed to be the state lab. 

[deerslayer]

7 hours ago, Frog4aday said:

Failing to process rape kits is beyond my comprehension. Just do it. Allocate the resources & get it done. With the DNA database growing daily, more & more violent predators can be caught & locked away. Yet...it isn't happening. The world feels "broken".

What resources?

[Capbyrd]

These editorials are great but they offer no proposed solutions and offer no facts as to the cause.  MPD isn’t even running these kits.  They are sent to the TBI and placed in a statewide queue.  MPD is woefully understaffed.  And let’s no forget that catching these people does nothing if they aren’t actually prosecuted.  
 

The system is failing at many levels from top down and side to side.  I don’t have answers but I know just getting rape kits tested faster isn’t going to change much.  

[RED333]

6 hours ago, Capbyrd said:

I don’t have answers but I know just getting rape kits tested faster isn’t going to change much.  

Until we as a people understand evil is evil and treat it in the most harshest terms, we as a people will always have a crime issue.

[deerslayer]

8 hours ago, Capbyrd said:

  And let’s no forget that catching these people does nothing if they aren’t actually prosecuted.  

...and incarcerated.