The LAPD has slashed its backlog of untested rape kits from 6,132 to 648, but says it could expedite the process further if the FBI lifts a regulation requiring the verification of tests conducted by private labs.

City Councilman Greig Smith, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said officials are lobbying federal lawmakers to change an FBI requirement that local police departments repeat DNA tests conducted by independent laboratories if the results are going to be used as evidence in court.

"Council President (Eric) Garcetti and I met with members of Congress and they were very sympathetic to what we were saying," Smith said. "They said to the FBI that if they didn't find an accommodation, legislation would be introduced and that's something the FBI doesn't want."

The Los Angeles Police Department has suffered a 10 percent cut in its forensics budget because of the city's financial crisis, but it is still giving priority to cases in which a rapist is believed at large.

"There are no high priority cases going untested," Detective David Doan said. "Where there is an unknown predatory type, we process those on a high-priority basis."

The DNA backlog became a major issue in 2008, when an audit found a backlog of more than 6,100 rape kits - some of them from assaults that took place years earlier.

As a result, the city hired private contractors to help clear the backlog but was slowed when analysts had to retest DNA in order for it to be used in court.

LAPD officials said they hope to keep $3 million in next year's budget to continue use of outside firms.