Bensalem police to offer DNA profiles for children

BUCKS COUNTY

Bensalem police

to offer DNA profiles for children

BENSALEM The Bensalem Township Police Department will offer parents the opportunity in April to obtain a copy of their child's DNA profile through a program conducted with a professional DNA lab, according to a news release from police.

The DNA profiles will not be kept by the lab - Bode Technology, in Virginia - or the police department, the release said.

Rather, the DNA will be collected through what police say is a noninvasive procedure, then sent back to parents after being processed in the lab. Parents can then store it in case it's needed to identify their child, if the child goes missing, for example.

The event will be conducted on April 6 at the Bensalem Municipal Building, 2400 Byberry Rd., between noon and 3 p.m. Entry and the DNA profiles are free. For more information, call 215-633-3711.

Bensalem police have been in the news for DNA before. The department is one of at least nine local law enforcement agencies nationwide to have a database of genetic material from suspects who provide it. Those DNA profiles have been used in arrests of more than 100 people, mostly for low-level crimes such as burglary. - Chris Palmer

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Bensalem police to offer DNA profiles for children