Lab tests. Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/en/users/kropekk_pl-114936/

Sen. Lizbeth Benacquisto, R-Fort Myers, filed a proposal Monday that could help speed up lab testing of evidence in suspected sexual-assault cases.

Benacquisto's bill (SB 636), which will be considered during the 2016 legislative session, followed a news conference last month in which Attorney General Pam Bondi detailed a massive backlog of untested rape kits across the state.

Three other lawmakers also have filed bills (HB 167, HB 179 and SB 368) seeking to address the issue.

Under Benacquisto's bill, DNA evidence collected in sexual-assault investigations would have to be submitted to the state crime-lab system for testing within 21 days of being received by law-enforcement agencies.

Also, victims, their parents or personal representatives could request the DNA evidence be turned over sooner.

The bill would require the Florida Department of Law Enforcement by Oct. 1, 2016, to submit a plan for analyzing untested evidence currently held in the lab system. That evidence would have to be tested by June 30, 2017.

Officials at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement say they are in the process of surveying about 400 law enforcement agencies in the state to try to determine the extent of the backlog. Their report is due to the legislature in January 2016, says Steve Arthur, communications director for FDLE.

That assessment could be important for Escambia County, which is seeing an uptick in the crime rate — and in sexual assaults — at the six-month mark in data collection. Data from the Sheriff’s Office shows a 36 percent increase in reported forcible rapes for the first six months of 2015, compared to the first six months of 2014. Seventy-nine rapes were reported as of June 30; 58 were reported in 2014.

Pensacola Police Department data shows a 40 percent increase in reported forcible rapes for the first six months of 2015, compared to the first six months of 2014. Fourteen rapes were reported in the city limits in the first six months of 2015; 10 were reported in the same time frame in 2014.

The crime rate is one of 16 quality of life measurements that the Studer Community Institute’s Pensacola Metro Dashboard tracks. Created in consultation with the University of West Florida’s Office of Economic Development and Engagement, the dashboard is an at-a-glance look at the social, economic and educational well-being of our community.

A group of researchers from the University of West Florida mapped reported sexual assaults across the continental United States to see if some areas showed higher incidences of these crimes.

Source: Geographical Clusters of Rape in the United States:
2000-2012

They did find areas where reported sexual assault reports were more prevalent. And one of them was the Escambia and Santa Rosa county area. When the data is adjusted for poverty and age, the Pensacola metro area is fifth in the country for an elevated risk of reported sexual assault. Their study is linked here.

Studer Community Institute Editor Shannon Nickinson contributed to this report.