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                  The Associated Press State & Local Wire

The materials in the AP file were compiled by The Associated Press. These
materials may not be republished without the express written consent of The
Associated Press.

                     August 8, 2002, Thursday, BC cycle

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 609 words

HEADLINE: Report: DNA database of suspects draws support, criticism

DATELINE: CINCINNATI

BODY:
Supporters of Ohio's practice of collecting DNA profiles from people cleared
of crimes hail it as a way to fight crime, but critics say it intrudes on
innocent people's privacy and may violate their rights, The Cincinnati
Enquirer reported Thursday.

"What gives government the right to take people's DNA and do with it as they
damn well please? Frankly, it should be unconstitutional," said Peter
Neufeld, a New York criminal defense lawyer who has helped set state and
federal standards for use of DNA testing.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation keeps the DNA
profiles and compares samples with evidence collected in unsolved crimes.
Bureau Superintendent Ted Almay said the database gives his agency an edge
in fighting crime. The three-year-old database includes DNA analysis
collected from more than 1,020 people who were excluded as suspects in
offenses such as homicide, rape and burglary.

The newspaper reported that some people who willingly gave up samples of
their DNA were not told their profiles would be kept and compared against
evidence in future crimes.

Almay said people whose DNA profiles are included in the suspect database
either had their genetic sample collected by court order or gave their
consent.

By law, for consent to be valid, it must be given voluntarily and with
knowledge of how the evidence is to be used, the newspaper reported.

In recent months, the state agency has suggested that police agencies use a
model consent form that instructs the DNA donor that their sample would be
entered into a database to be used for "any other investigation or any
legitimate law enforcement purpose."

Bureau spokesman Bret Crow said agencies were not required to adopt the
form. Several local departments say they do not use the state form for
various reasons, including civil liberties concerns and fears its use would
make their job more difficult.

"We find that it works easier, and we get better cooperation if you tell
somebody you're looking at it for a specific thing - if they don't think
it's going anywhere else," Cincinnati personal crimes Detective Linda Day
said.

Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery defended the database.

"It's a broad net that's going to bring in probably folks that are not going
to be suspects in any crimes," she said. "But at the same time, it may very
well be bringing in very legitimate samples of people who will be suspects
in future crimes."

Ohio legislators passed a law in 1995 to collect, analyze and create a
statewide database of DNA samples from inmates convicted of certain crimes.
The information was intended to help feed the FBI's national database.

Ohio's law allowed a statewide database only from criminals convicted of one
or more of 14 specific crimes, another of DNA evidence collected from crime
scenes, and a separate database to keep the analysis of genetic material
from missing people or their relatives in the hope of identifying human
remains.

The state began collecting the DNA samples of suspects cleared in crimes in
1999.

"If we have a legitimate legal tool to solve crimes if it's legitimate,
legal and ethical, I think we have an obligation to do that," Almay said.

He said there are protections. Profiles are identified only by case number
and the agency that submitted the sample and the suspect database is not
linked to the national system, he said.

But Montgomery said that out-of-state crime scene evidence can be compared
with the suspect database if an outside agency requests it.

She said similar databases are kept in Florida, Illinois, Washington,
Nevada, Missouri and New York.

LOAD-DATE: August 9, 2002