Should The Police Be Required To Submit DNA Samples?

Terrence P. Dwyer
Assistant Professor in the Justice and Law Administration Department at Western Connecticut State University

The New York State Police and the union have apparently entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Governor’s Office of Employee Relations (GOER) regarding a voluntary, employee-participation plan for submission of DNA samples. While the rationale for such use of a DNA sample would seem innocent enough, the thought that the government is now seeking DNA samples from employees for a database is of great concern.

One Click Note: Scottish police new recruits have had to submit their DNA to the database since 2003. In England, the police submit nothing. Some 900,000 innocent people in the United Kingdom have their forced DNA retained on the National Database illegally according the European Court of Human Rights.

Terrence P. Dwyer, Police One