Law-enforcement technologyFeds to fund DNA collection from suspects

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has revealed a plan to collect DNA from suspects upon arrest, and while Republicans who support the plan look for ways to fund it, some of the money could come from Congress.

Republicans and Democrats alike joined in with Representative Adam Schiff (D-California), who introduced the bill last July that gives $10 million annually for states that want to start a DNA program. Schiff was inspired by the Katie Sepich, a New Mexico college student who was raped and murdered in 2003. TwinCities reports that Sepich’s killer was arrested the same year on unrelated charges but the state did not take DNA at that time and he was not linked to the crime until 2006, when he was convicted of an unrelated offense.

President Obama signed a bipartisan bill last week which will set aside $10 million grants for states to start taking DNA upon arrest. It is still unknown when state will be able to apply for the money or how much money Wisconsin could receive.

According to the National Institute of Justice, almost thirty states collect DNA upon request depending on the charges brought against the suspect.

The bill has upset a lot of civil rights advocates and who see the initiative as an invasion of privacy and argue that Wisconsin cannot win enough money for the program to make a difference.

“Certainly we’re not going to get half of the federal money that’s out there,” Chris Ahmuty, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Wisconsin chapter told Twincities. “The proposal is going to remain expensive. This is certainly not going to solve the funding issue.”

Currently, Wisconsin collects DNA from convicted felons and sex offenders, but Walker wants to include provisions in the 2013-15 state budget that requires law enforcement in the state to take DNA from anyone that is arrested for a felony, anyone who is arrested for a misdemeanor sex offense, and any adult convicted of a misdemeanor.

Walker believes the additional provisions would help police solve crimes faster and reduce the cost of long-term investigations, but according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the increase would lead to 68,000 more DNA collections per year.

In order to do that the State Justice Department will need the $7.2 million for the first two years, but any amount the state gets from applying for the grant will help with the price tag.

“This legislation — now law — is another tool in law enforcement’s toolkit,” Schiff told Twincities.com. “Just as we fingerprint arrestees and those convicted of crimes, it makes absolute sense to collect a DNA profile when someone is arrested for a violent felony, and this bill will encourage states around the nation to join California and other states that have adopted arrestee testing.”

President Obama, who supports the plan, was quick to sign the bill.

As to when states can start applying for the grant, that depends on when the next congressional appropriations bill passes. The most a state can receive is 100 percent of its first year costs, but the state would be on its own after that. For Wisconsin that total would be around $2.2 million for the first year.