NYT - To Try to Net Killer, Police Ask a Small Town's Men for DNA

[mcscajun]

TRURO, Mass., Jan. 7 - In an unusual last-ditch move to find clues to the three-year-old killing of a freelance fashion writer, police investigators are trying to get DNA samples from every man in this Cape Cod hamlet, all 790 or so, or as many as will agree.

(snip)

Sgt. David Perry of the Truro Police Department and other law enforcement authorities here say that the program is voluntary but that they will pay close attention to those who refuse to provide DNA.

"We're trying to find that person who has something to hide," Sergeant Perry said.

(snip)

"They're not very effective and they're certainly not voluntarily," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty project at the American Civil Liberties Union. "It's either give a sample or you're a suspect. It turns the classic American concept of innocent until proven guilty on its head."

http://tinyurl.com/6rbja

[bluestateguy]

1. "If you're innocent you should have nothing to fear"

It's also a nice way of setting up a permanent DNA database.

[mcscajun]

17. And the folks who innocently say that are our biggest problem...

...not the authorities...but the folks all over the political spectrum who parrot that particular phrase and it's variations.

"I have nothing to hide, so I don't see the harm."
"If you're innocent..."
"Only a guilty person wouldn't want..."

ARGH!

I had a similar discussion on another forum last year and it damned near drove me crazy trying to explain what the harm WAS.

[Rose Siding]

2. Bush's SCOTUS to be is going to make our lives very different

I don't count on their concept of privacy to extend to me.

[Tace]

3. The Police Have Failed -- Now They Want Everyone's DNA

A poor excuse.

[DIKB]

4. Does ANYONE Doubt

That we now live in a FASCIST STATE ?!?!?

[Pegleg Thd]

9. More proof

that the loonies escaped their cages and are ruining the country!!!!!!!!

[TankLV]

5. & exactly what about the "small" fact that the killer may have already

left the island?

[Straight Shooter]

6. I think this was done in England, some years ago, to find a child killer

Does anyone know the reference I'm making? It was quite a story. They did catch the killer because he refused to give any specimens.

Damn, I wish I could think of the name of the case. It was quite a notorious situation at the time.

As for giving DNA, the Patriot-Shmatriot Act will give law enforcement the ability to sneak and peek. They'll come into your home when you aren't there and take whatever the hell samples they want. They'll subpoena your medical records.

Privacy? Huh-uh. It's gone. All we have left is the illusion.

[shraby]

7. I remember the story. I think

a friend gave a sample for him but then felt guilty and told.

[shadowknows69]

8. personally I don't trust DNA fingerprints

I admit I haven't read all the science on it but I just don't have much faith in any of our institutions anymore not to fu*k it up.

[Bridget Burke]

11. DNA testing is accurate if done well.....

Inaccuracy by the Houston Police Department's DNA lab has become a huge scandal. Numerous cases have been overturned because the results are so unreliable.

Not a problem with the science--but with how the lab is run.

[AngryAmish]

12. Much different due process rules in UK

I think they have done away with right against self-incrimination in certain cases (terrorist-related). UK folks could tell much more than I.

[murpheeslaw]

16. "The Blooding" by Joseph Wambaugh

Yes, it is nonfiction. He writes that way to. I like to read good true crime and this one held my attention all the way through.

"Wambaugh's latest triumphant venture into true crime turns to Leicestershire, England, and the slayings of two teenagers, killings that were eventually solved through scientist Alec Jeffreys's discovery of genetic fingerprinting." - Publisher's Weekly

[Massachusetts]

10. Most full time Cape Cod residents

are Independent. I'll be surprised if there is success with this tactic.IMO

However there are those few sheep who will obey out of fear, and sadly give up their rights.:mad:

[Rose Siding]

13. AP- ACLU Seeks End to Mass. DNA Collections

BOSTON - Civil rights advocates asked authorities Monday to stop collecting DNA samples from men in Truro in their investigation of a fashion writer's slaying.

Calling it "a serious intrusion on personal privacy" that is unlikely to yield results, the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) of Massachusetts sent a letter to Cape Cod prosecutor Michael O'Keefe and Truro Police Chief John Thomas, urging them to end the DNA effort.
...
"The mass collection of DNA samples by the police is a serious intrusion on personal privacy that has proven to be both ineffective and wasteful," said the letter from ACLU Executive director Carol Rose and John Reinstein, the organization's legal director.

The letter raised concerns about statements from O'Keefe, who indicated that investigators would take note of those who decline a swab of the inside of their mouths.

Mass DNA collection has been used to crack criminal cases in Europe, but in this country the technique has been used only sporadically.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&ncid=718&e=7&u=/ap/20050110/ap_on_re_us/cape_cod_murder

[TahitiNut]

14. Proof of innocence is now the standard of law?

Beam me up, Scotty. :eyes:

[Redstone]

15. If they try to take a sample of my DNA

just because I live in the town where a murder happened, they'd better bring a cannon. And have good attorneys.

Redstone

[Ilsa]

18. And I wonder how long they'd keep those DNA results?

How often would they use them to compare against other evidence in other crimes?

[BiggJawn]

19. "Get a WARRANT!"

"Now, this is totally VOLUNTARY, Jawn, but, I gotta tell ya, you're gonna look awful suspicous if you refuse. What's the big deal, guy? If you didn't kill the writer, you got nothing to worry about. But if you refuse, well, I can think of only ONE reason for any decent sheep to say 'No'..."

So the Burden of Proof is on US, not the State, and it's a burden to prove our INNOCENCE....