Police DNA collection

The Herald reports:

Yesterday a 24-year-old Pacific Island woman, who did not want to be named, told the Herald she had been pressured into giving a sample at Auckland Central police station earlier this month.

She was driving in Grey Lynn without a licence and was stopped by police, and then taken to the station.

“An officer wanted me to give a DNA sample. I told him I didn’t want to do it, but he told me if I wanted to go home quickly, then I would have to give the DNA,” she said.

“He said all the officers were doing it and were trying to get everyone to do it in case I was raped or murdered, so they could identify my body. I felt violated and like I had no rights, like I was forced to do it and they could have done anything to me if I didn’t do it.”

The woman, who is facing a charge for driving while forbidden, said she did not remember the names of the officers, but she would discuss laying a complaint with her lawyer.

This allegation should be investigated. The Police file will reveal the names of the officers.

Merilyn McAuslin told the Herald her son was under duress when he gave a DNA sample in 2005, when he was 17 and in high school.

He was out with friends, one of whom graffitied a building, and their car number plate was reported.

When he went to the Newmarket police station with his mother, he was intimidated by an officer to identify the person who had done the graffiti.

He started to have a panic attack and was taken outside for some air and water. Mrs McAuslin said within a couple of minutes, a female police officer said a driving charge against her son would be dropped if he gave a DNA sample. “She got the DNA in a real moment of weakness for us.”

This case is five years old. I have some doubts over this, as the mother uses the terms”intimidation” in regards to her son revealing who did the graffiti. And why stay quiet for five years?

However the first case happened just this month, and people arrested for driving without a licence shouldn’t be coerced into giving DNA samples.

But there are two sides to every story – the Police can request samples. Where it becomes improper is if they attach consequences to a refusal to voluntarily comply – that turns it into coercion.