I saw this last night – (US-NYC) Update New York Police Department to Remove DNA
Profiles of Non-Criminals from Database (IAJGS Public Records Access Alert): To read the article see: https://gothamist.com/news/advocates-accuse-nyc-slow-walking-promised-reductions-dna-database. IAJGS Public Records Access Alert posted it to their mailing list yesterday. To view the list, you have to register on their list. You can register at: http://lists.iajgs.org/mailman/listinfo/records-access-alerts. Read the instructions if you aren’t already on the list. Much longer article, but here’s enough to encourage you to read more.
Advocates Accuse NYC Of Slow-Walking Promised Reductions To DNA Database
BY GEORGE JOSEPH December 14, 2020
Nearly 10 months after promising cuts to New York City’s controversial DNA database, city authorities have barely made a dent in reducing its scope, according to the city’s own records.
In February, the NYPD promised to downsize the city’s DNA database, which advocates have criticized for perpetually retaining the genetic signatures of tens of thousands of residents, many of whom had their samples taken without consent. With some exemptions, the removals were supposed to affect residents in the database whose profiles were at least two years old and who had not been convicted of crimes at the time of review.
The scope of the proposed purge remains unclear. As of this February, roughly 8,000 people had been added to the database, despite not having been convicted of crimes.
But data released from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) earlier this month shows that New York City has only fully removed 938 DNA profiles from its controversial database since July. An additional thousand-plus profiles have been marked for removal, though authorities did not respond to requests for comment about when they would actually be purged.
Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
Ups Downs Family History 