Mass. prosecutor wants to collect DNA from anyone under arrest

BOSTON — A Massachusetts state prosecutor is proposing to expand the state’s DNA database, a move critics believe will violate civil rights.

Currently, Massachusetts collects DNA from convicted felons but Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley would like to take a DNA swab from anyone under arrest.

"It's becoming more and more available and more and more important to our investigations," he told FOX25’s Kerry Kavanaugh.

Over the last 16 years, the Boston Police Department’s crime lab has collected 3,000 DNA samples.

"I don't think that would be able to solve a majority of the crimes that we have," said lab technician Rebecca Boissaie of how important the database is.

In addition to the DNA gathered from evidence, Massachusetts collects DNA from offenders but only after they are convicted of felonies.

However, 30 states have laws that allow officers to collect DNA from people at the time of arrest.

Conley plans to propose a similar plan to lawmakers this year.

"Those states that have an 'all arrest' DNA database, they solve more cases. They get dangerous felons off the street faster than we do," Conley said

Concerns for Civil Rights

Kade Crockford is with the American Civil Liberties Union in Massachusetts and feels the proposal is unconstitutional.

She believes a DNA swab is equivalent to a search and should require a warrant.

"It makes no sense from either a criminal justice or a constitutional and privacy perspective to enable law enforcement officers, police officers to swab people for arrests at political protests or crimes like drunk driving," she said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled it is legal for police to take DNA samples from those accused of serious crimes without a warrant.

DNA Solving Crime

A drunk driving arrest in California helped police crack a two decades old rape case in Boston.

California is one of the states that collects DNA from arrestee.

When officers entered Derrick Scott's DNA sample into CODIS, or the Combined DNA Index System, it returned a hit to evidence from a 1996 sexual assault.

A jury convicted him in 2015.

DNA also helped crack a 23-year-old homicide.

When James Witkowski was convicted in 2013 for assault, he had to give a DNA sample.

Investigators said it matched the cold case file for the murder of Tufts graduate Lena Bruce.

Advances in DNA science also helped investigators link the 1964 murder of Mary Sullivan to the infamous Boston Stranger.

>>READ MORE: DNA Link To Boston Strangler

"It's an incredibly important part of modern day policing," Conley said of DNA evidence.

Conley has pushed to expand the DNA database for several years but hopes his proposal gets introduced and approved this year.

Cox Media Group