The following is an excerpt.
Slowly, and largely under the radar, a growing number of local law enforcement agencies across the country have moved into what had previously been the domain of the F.B.I. and state crime labs — amassing their own DNA databases of potential suspects, some collected with the donors’ knowledge, and some without it.
And that trend — coming at a time of heightened privacy concerns after recent revelations of secret federal surveillance of telephone calls and Internet traffic — is expected only to accelerate after the Supreme Court’s recent decision upholding a Maryland statute allowing the authorities to collect DNA samples from those arrested for serious crimes.
Read the full story here: Police Agencies Are Assembling Records of DNA
Additional Resources:
- “Nabbing the bad guys with advanced technology: Who needs fingerprints when you have DNA?” Genetic Literacy Project
— Read GLP founding director Jon Entine’s analysis of the recent Supreme Court ruling that allowed authorities to collect DNA samples from people who have been arrested — but not yet convicted — for serious crimes.
