How would voluntary testing accomplish anything other than enriching the the testing labs? Isn’t that just a waste of time and resources? Is the idea that the guilty party doesn’t know they did it and might accidently give a sample?
Is local peer pressure supposed to urge you to get tested? Will there be wispering in the supermarket isles about those not providing a sample? Talking at school about a parent that didn’t test?
It’s a witch hunt. Just the same sort of thing done in old Salem. And a piss poor law enforcement procedure for investigators who should be greeting at Wal-Mart instead of terrorizing the general population.
Actually, you’d be eliminating yourself from the pool of suspects (assuming you didn’t do it).
I don’t see this as really being any different than the cops just asking you what your were doing on the night in question. The object is to rule people out, not rule them in.
Except we just showed that most would not volunteer. As you said- there’s a very high danger the DNA would get into a national database. And the way things are going, they be at my door in a couple years for $64,768 of speeding tickets or something.
Ah, see, having traveled to Places Overseas, both the Spanish government (where it’s standard and required) and the US government (Customs) already have my fingerprints…
If it was in Spain, I’d do it (in Spain that kind of thing does come with a judge’s order, the cops can’t just ask for it and they’re not stupid enough to). If it was in the US, I’d find a lawyer first, then most-likely do it. The Spanish judge’s order for DNA sampling gives the cops permission to ask for my sample, but disobeying it wouldn’t be contempt to court or anything else that’s a crime or “fault” on its own, it’s “refusal to comply” and can be counted against you in some cases (eg child support cases) but won’t get you in trouble by itself; it is, therefore, still considered voluntary.
…assuming nothing goes wrong with the testing. If I don’t subject myself to that search I am not exposing myself to any flaws in DNA testing.
Where would they be asking me this? We have a joke around the household re the word “just.” “Just” knock this wall out. “Just” paint the front of the house. “Just” answer these questions.
No way. I got accused on a felony once in high school (blowing the hell out of everything on a construction site). I didn’t even know where the police were talking about let alone who was supposedly involved because it was many miles away. All of the guns in our house got confiscated and submitted for ballistics testing. Luckily, all I ever did at the time was go to school and work at my job at the local supermarket. My time card proved it could not have been me so they insisted that it must have been my younger brother — who also worked at the supermarket. If it weren’t for that simple fact, I don’t know what would have happened.
Occasionally they screw up and forget that we’re on the same side; when that occurs, I have an obligation to remind them. Acting like they’re the enemy is *not *the way to do this.
You come up with a scenario that contains evidence where you think I’m guilty. If you can’t do that, then the investigation is going in the wrong direction. The police need to regroup, not expect to find something in a ‘controlled’ DNA polling.
If you’re a cop or work for a prosecuting office, then yes.
If you are neither one of those, then absolutely no fucking way are you on the same side. In the OP, a murder happens in your neighborhood, they ask to test everyone’s DNA, telling you the cops in your neighborhood were lucky enough to get a GED. They are not on your side in a case like this. ( WM3 comes to mind…)
As someone who works pretty closely with law enforcement and respects the police and the law, I have to agree with this post. Seriously, never volunteer anything to the police unless there is a specific reason to, especially when the result of that offering could lead to your arrest. The police can, have, and WILL do everything in their power to destroy you if they think you’re a badguy.
If a murder occurs in my neighborhood I want the murderer *caught *- and I will do whatever I can to provide assistance to the people tasked with catching him. It’s called civic responsibility.
I agree, to a point. If the police are asking for your help, like “do you recognize this person?” I would help them with any information I had. The instant their request turns into “do you have an alibi” and “can I have/do XYZ to you in order to rule you out as a suspect?” the answer becomes no. No, no, no. Never submit to anything you don’t legally have to with the police, ever.
I was just saying that if this were your neighborhood, and the cops have no leads to the point of getting voluntary DNA samples, they didn’t even finish high school, and I do t necessarily mean the boys in the blues, I mean the guys in charge.
Their investigation turned desperate most likely through their own mistakes. Now they look feeble, as described in the OP.