Senate Bill introduces Rapid DNA testing for law enforcement
19th July 2021 · 0 Comments
By Fritz Esker
Contributing Writer
Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards recently signed Senate Bill 132 (Act 99) into law, allowing for rapid DNA testing for people arrested for sexual and/or violent offenses.
The bill was sponsored by state Senators Joseph Bouie, Troy Carter and Gregory Tarver (Carter has since moved onto the U.S. House of Representatives to replace Cedric Richmond). Even though the three senators sponsoring the bill are Democrats in a highly partisan political landscape, the bill received no “nay” votes in either the Louisiana House or Senate. The seven members who did not vote “yay” abstained.
“The issue was about solving crime, not party affiliation,” said Sen. Bouie. “It’s a non-partisan issue… There is now a technology that can expedite the solving of crimes and insure that innocent people aren’t left sitting in jail.”
Sen. Bouie said members of the Louisiana State Police initially approached him with the idea for the “game-changer” bill. The DNA rapid testing would make law enforcement’s job easier in multiple ways and protect the innocent from wrongful prosecution.
The technology allows for suspects to be tested immediately after their arrest. In the past, DNA test results could take a long time to come back, sometimes months. If an innocent person had been arrested, that person could be left languishing in jail for the duration. Even if they could make bail, the psychological stress of an impending trial would be considerable. Now, if a person has been wrongfully arrested, the rapid DNA testing makes it likely that they will be released quickly.
Sen. Bouie said that aside from keeping innocent people out of jail, the rapid testing would make it easier for law enforcement to do their jobs. If the wrong person is in jail for months, it not only hurts the innocent person in jail, it makes it harder for the police to catch the actual perpetrator. The more time passes, the more physical evidence degrades and the more witnesses’ memories fade.
Even if the suspect is guilty, slow DNA testing meant a suspect could be released from custody before law enforcement received the positive result.
“Currently, the process of collection of DNA at booking, to analyzing the sample at the crime laboratory, to enrolling the sample into CODIS (Combined DNA Index System), is a process that can take 30-60 days. Often a CODIS hit will occur, but due to the timeline of the process, the investigating agency isn’t notified of the match until the offender has been released from custody,” said Lt. Melissa Matey of the Louisiana State Police. “Rapid DNA implementation would allow for both the investigating and booking agencies to be notified automatically of a CODIS hit while the offender is still in police custody.”
The rapid DNA technology can also identify if a suspect’s DNA matches DNA from other unsolved crime scenes.
“The goal of rapid DNA implementation is for a DNA profile to be generated upon booking and automatically searched in CODIS against high-profile crimes of special concern,” said Lt. Matey. “A DNA profile will be immediately searched against DNA profiles from unsolved crimes of special concern (sexual assaults, homicides, kidnapping, and terrorism cases) at both the state and national levels.”
Lt. Matey added that the Louisiana State Police is committed to assisting law enforcement agencies across Louisiana with rapid DNA testing.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office voiced their support of the new technology.
“We believe rapid DNA technology would be helpful for investigative purposes and could potentially relieve the stress some crime labs are experiencing with the volume of samples,” said Cory Dennis, press secretary for Landry.
Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams echoed this support.
“Act 99 supports the DA’s Office’s investigative work by ensuring that our office has quicker access to information needed to secure justice and increase safety in New Orleans. We look forward to seeing how this law will impact the work of the criminal legal system at large,” said Williams.
Gary Scheets, NOPD spokesperson, wrote that the NOPD is gathering information on the new method of collecting DNA evidence and the NOPD has not yet made any determination on adopting it.
This article originally published in the July 19, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
