LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — As hundreds of untested rape kits remain in storage at the Lincoln Police Department, officials are considering broadening the scope of the department’s kit-testing policy to require all DNA evidence to be tested.

The department has more than 350 untested rape kits that have been collected since 2004, the Lincoln Journal Star reported.

Nearly all the untested kits are from cases in which the victim knew the alleged offender, said Chief Jeff Bliemeister. The DNA evidence could confirm if there was sexual contact, but wouldn’t confirm if it was nonconsensual, he said.

“There are no untested kits in our property unit that hold investigative value specific to the allegations” of the cases reported, Bliemeister said in February.

Rape kits are required to be tested in cases where the victim doesn’t know the alleged offender, according to department policy. Police are now considering changing that policy.

“We are evaluating best practices from the National Institutes of Justice, meeting with community stakeholders and making a determination if all biological evidence should be sent to the lab, even when the facts and circumstances of the investigation we are working don’t require the analysis,” Bliemeister said last week.

Investigators aren’t considering workload or costs when weighing whether to test kits, Bliemeister said. Police sometimes pay more to have kits tested in other labs to avoid a backlog, he said.

Testing all sexual assault kits can help identify serial rapists, according to End the Backlog, a federal initiative by the Joyful Heart Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for all kits to be tested.

Victims whose rape kits aren’t tested can feel like their sexual assault hasn’t been taken seriously, said Michelle Miller, the sexual violence program coordinator for the Nebraska Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence.

The police department works to document all reports of sexual assault, allows anonymous reporting and works with victim’s advocates, Bliemeister said.