SFPD says use of rape victim's DNA in unrelated criminal investigation 'should not have happened'
By J. R. Stone,
ABC News
| 03. 03. 2022
Wednesday night the San Francisco Police Chief responded to some tough questions from police commissioners about the use of DNA from sex assault survivors being used to investigate other crimes.
The chief says that that information is no longer being used, and at this point in time, it only appears to have been used in identifying one rape victim in a property crime case.
"As of now, you don't know of another case but there could be because you haven't finished auditing all the samples is that fair?" asked San Francisco police commissioner Cindy Elias.
"Well yeah that's fair. I don't know of any other case at this point, but we are in the process of going through all the cases," said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott.
Commissioner Elias asked if the past policies that in at least one case, allowed DNA from a 2016 rape victim to be used in helping identify that victim as a property crime suspect, could have been used in other cases too.
"This was something that should not have happened. As far as...
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