The Los Angeles Police Department has cleared almost two-thirds of its backlog in testing DNA rape kits after coming under pressure from women's rights groups and City Council members to speed the process, officials announced Thursday.

City Controller Wendy Greuel released an audit showing the backlog of cases in one year has shrunk to 2,527 from 7,038. But Greuel called for continued improvements and changes in how the LAPD catalogs the cases.

Joining Greuel at a morning news conference, Police Chief-nominee Charlie Beck emphasized the important role such science would play in the department under his leadership.

As chief of detectives, Beck led a task force assigned to clear up the backlog and was nominated this week by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be the department's next chief.

He said the issue goes beyond just addressing the current testing problem.

"This is not about these individual kits or the failures in the past," Beck said. "This is about justice for the future. We need to prepare the Police Department in a way to address crime in the future, and this is part of the solution.

"DNA testing eliminates the need for speculation. It builds confidence by the citizenry that the Police Department is effective."

He added that it also serves as a more effective deterrent if potential criminals think there is a much higher likelihood of getting caught.

Greuel said the audit was a follow-up to one last year that detailed the backlog.

While there have been improvements, she said, some of the figures may be inaccurate because of accounting problems.

"The department needs to immediately compare the difference in the rape kit reporting statistics with the physical inventory and eliminate the kits which have been tested," Greuel said. "If we don't have an accurate accounting of where we stand, it is impossible to say how much progress has been made."

Greuel recommended the LAPD change its database on how it tracks crimes, saying it now has three separate databases where one would help improve efficiency.

Beck said he agreed with Greuel and was in the process of putting the recommendation into effect.

"We have had a tremendous effort, a herculean effort, to clear up the backlog," Beck said, adding he hoped to fully clear the backlog by July 2011.

The city's DNA backlog has been a source of criticism from a range of public officials and human rights groups in recent years.

Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch, an international human-rights group based in New York, issued a lengthy report criticizing the LAPD, the county Sheriff's Department and other local police agencies for their backlogs, saying it was denying justice to rape victims.

On Tuesday, Tiffany Siart, a Los Angeles-based official with Human Rights Watch, said the city's progress sends an important message to women.

"What we have to realize is that these aren't just untested cases - this is about justice and bringing people to trial," Siart said.

Greuel said the problem has been a top priority for the city, with authorization to hire 16 new criminalists, the only new hiring allowed by the mayor and City Council during the current budget crisis.

Greuel also called for more attention to a long-standing issue with the FBI.

"Unfortunately, the FBI has a policy that requires all kits that are outsourced to be retested by a public agency," Greuel said. "This delay is outrageous because it has created a whole new backlog."

Greuel said former Police Chief William Bratton had sent a letter to FBI officials asking them to review their policy, and she has been in communication with members of Congress to see if any changes can be implemented.

Beck said it means the department has to take the work done by the private labs, confirm it and enter it into the national database.

"What this means is we are spending money with labs to process these cases and then have to spend money to confirm their work," Beck said. "It seems like a waste of money."

Cleaning up the backlog of DNA rape kits was one of the high-profile jobs given Beck by Bratton.

None of the remaining kits from the backlog represent ongoing investigations or stranger rapes, Beck said.

"We have processed all those," Beck said. "The remaining cases are those involving cases that have been decided or where the victim does not want to pursue. It's important for us to process these, to get them in the database."

Beck, whose nomination will be reviewed Monday by a City Council committee and then submitted to the full council, said he will provide officials with his vision for the LAPD and how to continue the reforms initiated by former Chief Bratton.

"I am not going to move anybody immediately," Beck said. "This is a deliberative process. This is an organization that is working. I am not going to make any changes that cause upheaval in the department.

"I will shift some things, but the reality is that this is a great department, and I'm smart enough to know to not change things that are working."