Federal Judge rules ok for cops to take DNA in felony arrests

[Kevin]

Beats the hell out of relying on eye witness identifications in cross-racial identifications. I don't think someone in police custody for a felony (or even a misdemeanor) has a right to privacy concerning their DNA. The police are allowed to take blood for such crimes, so they might as well be able to look at it, index it, etc.

All the better to keep dangerous people from committing crimes.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

Good Job, Federal Judges! We will make it harder and harder for someone to get away with criminal activity if we can build a national database of DNA signatures. I wouldn't care if my DNA was in the system....I don't plan on offing anyone anyway!

Originally Posted by agzg

I don't like it, but whatever. I'm not planning on committing a felony nor am I planning on being mistaken for someone who committed a felony.

Originally Posted by Kevin

Beats the hell out of relying on eye witness identifications in cross-racial identifications. I don't think someone in police custody for a felony (or even a misdemeanor) has a right to privacy concerning their DNA. The police are allowed to take blood for such crimes, so they might as well be able to look at it, index it, etc.

All the better to keep dangerous people from committing crimes.

I don't disagree with the concept here, but anything in the ballpark of "it doesn't matter if you have nothing to hide" in re: privacy or police activity scares the crap out of me.

This is really exactly on the fence, for me - how far are we from a national DNA database? Then how far are we from a national birth defect susceptibility database? Then how far from a national HPV database? Then . . .