DNA sampling advocate hopes W.Va. policy is changed

DNA sampling advocate hopes W.Va. policy is changed

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week, in a 5-4 decision, that law enforcement officers can collect DNA from swabs from inside a suspect's cheek and it does not amount to an "unreasonable search."

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A New Mexico woman who wants police to collect DNA as part of their standard booking procedures hopes West Virginia becomes the next state to adopt such a policy.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week, in a 5-4 decision, that law enforcement officers can collect DNA from swabs from inside a suspect's cheek and it does not amount to an "unreasonable search."

The dissenting justices were an unusual coalition of perhaps the Court's three most liberal justices, Justices Elena Kagan, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, and its most outspoken conservative, Justice Antonin Scalia.

In West Virginia, DNA swabs are only taken from people convicted of a crime and incarcerated, not those who have simply been arrested. That information is then sent off to the FBI's system of DNA profiles known as the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).

Jayann Sepich, of New Mexico, started the group DNA Saves, a non-profit organization aimed at getting police in all 50 states to collect DNA samples following an arrest of any kind. Twenty-six states have passed such policies.

Sepich also pushed for West Virginia to change its policy in 2008, but proposed legislation never got off the ground. Civil liberty groups cited privacy concerns and feared the practice could lead to increased arrests or government tracking.

Similar bills have been proposed every year since then, primarily by Republican legislators, but have never gotten off the ground.

Sepich said that those privacy concerns are unfounded. A DNA swab doesn't capture the entire DNA strand, but instead just a profile of 13 markers isolated from some 3 billion.

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DNA sampling advocate hopes W.Va. policy is changed