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The Arizona Department of Public Safety is asking the Attorney General Kris Mayes to advise it on the use of a new DNA testing technology that has critics concerned about privacy and misuse, but that law enforcement sees as a boon to solving cold cases.
Rapid DNA devices are able to test samples of DNA in 90 minutes, shortcutting a process that can take weeks or months in a standard laboratory setting. Law enforcement says it is a solution to overworked crime labs with backlogs and can create a statewide and national database more quickly, but critics argue that it could lead to abuse to test without consent or lead to the mishandling of DNA, which could kill cases before they begin.
In a letter sent to Mayes in November requesting a legal opinion, DPS said it is seeking approval from the FBI to use the technology for “the analysis of qualified arrestee DNA database samples at booking station collection sites.”
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In order to obtain approval from the FBI, DPS has to get a legal assessment of existing Arizona law on if they have the authority to administer such a program in the booking process.
Arizona has been a leader in the use of the technology going back as far as 2014, when a statewide program was first established to use the technology. Now, DPS is seeking approval to work with the FBI to allow for DNA to be analyzed with Rapid DNA machines when a person is booked into jail, and for it to be entered into the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, the national DNA database.
“The State of Arizona already allows for the collection of DNA from individuals arrested for qualifying offenses,” DPS said in a statement to the Mirror. “This program would reduce the turnaround time for these samples to be analyzed and entered in CODIS. Each interested state is required to submit a proposal to the FBI to ensure each requirement in the National Rapid DNA Booking Operational Procedures Manual is met prior to entering into an agreement with the FBI to operate a Rapid DNA Booking Program.”
Louisiana was the first state in the country to receive approval from the FBI in 2022, followed later by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union have voiced concern over the program and the use of the technology. The technology has been championed by former Washington State Rep. Dave Reichert, who has lobbied for the FBI partnership and for the technology to be used in other countries.
While the technology has helped solve cold cases and aided in identifying the remains of victims of devastating natural disasters, it has also faced criticism for unreliability and some instances where errors or fraud in the handling of DNA have led to thousands of cases being reviewed.
DPS says that the state has taken steps to remedy these concerns by ensuring that samples used for Rapid DNA cannot be destroyed in the process and must be confirmed by an accredited crime lab.
“A wide variety of case types have been processed in our program including residential and commercial burglary, aggravated assault, sexual assault, and homicides,” DPS said in a statement. “In addition, the program had led to victim identifications in vehicular accidents as well as excluding individuals from criminal investigations.”
If approved, DNA tested in the system will be automatically searched against a “select subset of unsolved forensic cases” and the booking station would be notified if the DNA matched any results.
DPS said that only members of the Law Enforcement Rapid DNA Program can access the data and that it will only be transmitted through secure law enforcement networks.
Rapid DNA testing has also been used at the southern border, often on asylum seekers, which has seen similar concerns surrounding privacy that have been echoed by other privacy-forward organizations.
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