It seems that most police sciences get validated (at least some do) AFTER the cops start using it. While DNA profiling is considered the ‘gold standard’ for identification (not DNA mixtures, however),  this run-up to its use as a screening tool for suspects or ‘POI’ (persons of interest) has got some strong similarities with the FBI’s hair microscopy, bitemark comparisons without DNA, bullet lead matching and misleading police interrogation protocols. All of these got into swing by means of  the police practitioners themselves going into courts throughout the land. Here is Erin Murphy’s comments to the NY Forensic Science Commission.

Following is a March 23, 2009 newspaper piece getting out more details on how NY legislators are swallowing this familial DNA thing all at once. But, after all, they are mostly lawyers, right?

SideBar: Remember, asset forfeiture (works without a conviction) got the DEA almost $3 billion since 2007. Merely on  ‘suspicion’ of being a criminal.  To finish these analogies, here’s a link to ‘stop and frisk’ problems from New York.

Excerpt

If you think the government wouldn’t target you as a suspect because of who is in your family, you might soon be proven wrong. A New York forensic oversight agency wants to unilaterally expand the use of the offender DNA database to convert relatives of those on file into default suspects.

This is familial searching, and the state Commission on Forensic Science wants to allow its use — though it is not clear it has the legal authority. Some states have outlawed it, some use it without legislative authority, and more have taken no action.

Full article

Thanks to New York Legal Aid Society @LegalAidNYC