NYPD purging DNA profiles of those free from suspicion of criminal offenses

The NYPD announced Thursday new policies for collection of DNA evidence from suspects, and procedures to purge genetic profiles from the medical examiner’s database of those no longer under suspicion or convicted of crimes.

The changes to existing policy and procedure follow City Council criticism last year that DNA profiles of people never convicted of a crime or no longer suspects lingered for years in a database maintained by the Office of The Chief Medical Examiner. A spokeswoman for the medical examiner's didn’t return a request for comment.

Commissioner Dermot Shea, in announcing the changes, said the database contains about 32,000 profiles and is different from one maintained by New York State, where the DNA of anyone convicted of a felony or misdemeanor is permanently stored in a database.

Under the new procedures, the NYPD will review all DNA profiles in the local database that are at least two years old. The entire database will be reviewed every four years for profiles that are at least four years old.  Finally, any new profiles will be receive an automatic review after two years.  Assuming the person is not arrested, convicted or subject to an ongoing investigation, the profiles will be recommended for removal, Shea said.

“These changes are common sense and incorporate feedback we have gathered without compromising the ability for officers to successfully identify criminals, build strong cases and bring justice for victims, ” Shea said in a statement.

The new policies also call for the design of a new consent form for use in cases where a person is asked to voluntarily give a DNA sample, with a statement included that the subject may refuse to give consent.

City Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Queens), who has been critical of the NYPD's collection procedures for DNA, said the changes were “a step in the right direction.”  But he sounded skeptical about the department following through on the steps, which include streamlined procedures for the purging of DNA from those acquitted of crimes.

Richards said he believed the majority of profiles in the medical examiner's database are from black and Hispanic people. Typically, DNA profiles taken in criminal cases don’t determine a person’s race. 

The latest NYPD statistics for 2019 showed that in many violent crime categories, between 80 and 85 percent of victims as well as those arrested were black and Hispanic.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.