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Disputed DNA law will protect public

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 29, 2009

Civil libertarians and others outraged about a new Florida law requiring people arrested on felony charges to give DNA samples are forgetting one thing: It's about safety, including their own.

It is a logical addition to existing state policy.

As it stands, people convicted of felonies and certain misdemeanors in Florida are required to give DNA to authorities.

The information is entered into the state database, which is routinely scanned for matches when DNA from a crime victim, suspect or scene is entered, among other uses.

It is an enormously effective tool that generates 230 "hits" every month, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which maintains the program. That amounts to a lot of solved crimes and dangerous people taken off the streets.

Now the state is wisely following the lead of 20 other states by planning to greatly expand the database. A new law that takes effect Wednesday eventually will require DNA samples, probably from saliva, from all people arrested on felony charges. That other states already have adopted this policy shows Florida isn't going to extremes.

The law will be phased in over the next 10 years, beginning in 2011 with certain felonies, but it is contingent upon funding. As of yet, none has been allocated.

Opponents are overreacting with their cries of Big Brother and illegal search and seizure. Consider the times. We are videotaped practically everywhere we go in public these days - an effective way to deter crime and provide evidence if one is committed.

Taking DNA samples from people suspected, but not convicted, of felonies is no different than taking fingerprints from anybody who is arrested, which has been the norm for decades.

Like DNA, fingerprints are unique to a person's identity. They are kept on file and allow investigators to compare them to prints lifted from crime scenes and found on other evidence.

DNA - the genetic fingerprint of a person - has developed into an even better investigative tool, enabling investigators to solve crimes faster, close cold cases and link crime patterns.

Opponents also forget, or ignore, that DNA is instrumental in solving other mysteries, including identifying the dead or individuals who disappear. And it can help exonerate as well as convict.

The law also has safeguards against abuse.

For example, the state will not be able to use the material to identify medical or genetic conditions, which indeed would be a violation of privacy. It is to be used solely for law enforcement identification purposes.

And DNA analysis can only be released to criminal justice agencies.

Giving results to unauthorized people or using the analysis for wrongful purposes will be a felony, as it should be.

Appropriately, there is a reasonable process that allows people to have their DNA removed from the database: They can provide to FDLE certified copies of a final court order overturning or setting aside a conviction or certified court records showing formal charges were either not filed or dismissed or that the suspect was acquitted.

So no one is trampling on the rights of the innocent, as civil libertarians claim.

In signing the legislation a couple of weeks ago, Gov. Charlie Crist, a former attorney general, was absolutely right when he said, "We need to protect first and make sure that our people are safe." An expanded DNA database will do exactly that.

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