“Raise taxes to pay for rape kits or don’t hang out in bars”.
It isn’t that simple. I am sure the police department is adequately funded. The money is probably being diverted from the lab budget to other things. I don’t blame this victim one bit for being outraged that “her” rape DNA test results were considered “not necessary”.
Secondly, I know a homicide/rape detective. There are no one time rapists. All rapists are serial rapists. So the rapists that preys on a woman in a bar today will be the rapist that preys on a woman in a park, public library, mall parking lot, community college or hospital parking lot tomorrow. By entering the DNA from a rape into a nationwide computer system, you raise the possibility of actually catching the bad guy.
Same with child molesters. I've never had the local LE follow through on anything I've reported over the last 20 years. Even doing the footwork for them, everything goes into file 13 so this story isn't surprising.
“The money is probably being diverted from the lab budget to other things.”
Yep. The SWAT team’s budget, new police cars, armored vehicles, drones....
Shiny toys are more important than catching dangerous criminals, don’tcha know.