Bill Would Give Law Enforcement More Tools
Sen. Bunde’s SB 33 Would Add to the DNA Database

Juneau - The Senate State Affairs Committee is scheduled to hear a bill Tuesday that could give Alaska police important leads for cracking unsolved cases.

“A DNA sample is the Twenty-first century version of a fingerprint,” said the sponsor of the bill, Sen. Con Bunde, R-Anchorage. “We require finger printing on a regular basis for a variety of reasons, it is not unreasonable to collect DNA from a person accused of a serious crime.”

SB 33 allows the Department of Public Safety to collect a DNA sample from a person charged with a crime against another person, or a felony under Alaska’s criminal code. Currently Alaska’s law enforcement officials may only collect DNA from a person convicted of a crime against another person, or a felony.

Often suspects charged with serious crimes are also associated with other unsolved crimes, and expanding the DNA registration system could assist in solving those crimes as well.

The bill requires the Department of Public Safety to destroy the DNA sample upon court notification that the criminal complaint has been dismissed. In addition, federal law requires the Department of Public Safety to remove the DNA sample if the suspect is not convicted.

The Senate State Affairs Committee meets tomorrow at 9 a.m. in the Beltz Room of the Alaska State Capitol.

NOTE: A Fact Sheet for SB 33 is attached below:
http://www.aksenateminority.com/pdfs/25/sb0033.pdf