TACOMA—

The fight over collecting DNA from anyone arrested for a serious crime is heating up in Olympia.

Opponents call it an invasion of privacy, but prosecutors say House Bill 2588 could be their best crime-fighting tool to keep repeat offenders off the street.

Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist cited a 2005 serial rape case as an example. Anthony Dias raped more than a dozen women, including two underage girls, before he was caught. 

HB 2588 requires police to collect a DNA cheek swab from anyone arrested for a felony; DNA that would then be put into a national databank.

“Currently when someone is arrested, that person is searched, photographed and fingerprinted. A cheek swab is no more intrusive than a fingerprint or photograph,” Lindquist said.

Shankar Narayan, of the American Civil Liberties Union, testified against the bill, saying it's a violation of the Fourth Amendment's right against unreasonable search and seizure.

“We want to see the types of crimes prevented as well, but unfortunately this bill isn't the right way to do it,” Narayan said. “The intrusiveness of the search is a big concern for us, and a lot of innocent people are going to be swept up in this and have DNA taken through no fault of their own.”

If this law was in place in 2005, prosecutors say, Dias would have been stopped. That's because before he assaulted 19 victims in Pierce and King County, he was arrested for a felony hit-and-run and would have been subjected to a DNA swab at that time.

Under this bill, supporters argue, the DNA would not be put into the databank until a judge finds probable cause, and if the case is eventually dismissed, the DNA would be destroyed.    

The measure would cost about $400,000 a year, funding that would come from traffic violations. The bill must move off the House floor Tuesday night to survive.

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DNA collection bill causes controversy