By Leischen Stelter
June 3, 2013 was a historic day for police agencies across the country. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that law enforcement officers are not violating the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches by collecting DNA samples from suspects arrested for a “serious offense.” “Taking and analyzing a cheek swab of the arrestee DNA is, like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the court’s five-justice majority, according to this news article. This ruling legitimizes a procedure already practiced by many law enforcement officers across the country. News outlets reported that 28 states and the federal government now take DNA swabs after arrests.
On the Other Hand
However, this ruling has been met with opposition within the Supreme Court and beyond. The four dissenting justices argued that allowing DNA collection constituted a major change in police powers, with Justice Antonin Scalia noting that the limitation to “serious” crimes could be easily eroded.
Dr. Vincent Giordano, program director of the criminal justice program at American Public University, agreed saying the lack of definition for the types of crimes considered “serious” could be problematic for law enforcement agencies.
“Most of us would agree that rape and murder are ‘serious’ crimes, but possession of marijuana might be considered serious to you, but not serious to me,” he said. “The lack of definition can open Pandora’s box and agencies and states are left trying to argue what the Supreme Court meant.”
An Already Overtaxed System
Mark Bridgeman, a retired captain who served as a police officer for 26 years and is currently the President of the North Carolina Gang Investigators Association, has years of experience collecting and relying on DNA evidence. During his career, he worked many serial rape cases as a detective and then as a commander with a sexual assault task force.
“DNA is a wonderful tool and it makes the world smaller for criminals, but we have to have the infrastructure behind it for it to be successful,” he said.
To read this article in entirety, please visit www.PoliceOne.com
Comments are closed.