Forensic DNA databases — without prior arrest

Posted by Pete Shanks April 12, 2011
Biopolitical Times

Potential offenders, never arrested or even individually identified as suspicious, are now being required to provide the authorities in at least two European towns a sample of their DNA. Should municipal employees discover evidence of criminal activity, a sample will be sent for analysis, the offender will be identified and fines will be levied.

Yes, it's the high-tech method of dealing with the problem of dog poop. The first report was from the Basque town of Hernani, where the standard fine is €300 (about $435) plus the €45 ($65) cost of testing; humans who refuse to provide a DNA sample for their pets will be fined a similar amount. Capri is joining in, too, "taking advantage of existing law requiring all dogs to have blood tests for canine leishmaniasis" — and there the fine is a whopping €2000 ($2900). A town in Bavaria has also considered the idea, as did a condo in Baltimore.

This is by no means the first attempt to use technology in the service of clean streets: Toulouse last year established a system to photograph the "offending pile" and email its location to street cleaners.

In the U.S., a DNA database was set up last year to help combat dog-fighting. It is intended to reduce animal cruelty by tracking down relationships among such dogs and their breeders. That seems unexceptionable and does clearly relate to significant criminal activity. In the commercial realm, ancestry testing is also available.

"People should not to have to suffer this filth," explained the mayor of Hernani. But the opposition leader argues that the problem has become much worse since the council, in what was presumably a cost-saving measure, removed trash bins from the streets. "The whole thing is absurd," she said, "and will not solve the problem."

Previously on Biopolitical Times: