Out of control

A U.S. Senate committee has adopted an amendment to the VAWA legislation that would add the DNA of anyone detained by the cops to a federal DNA database called "CODIS." Note that it doesn't require that you're convicted of a crime or even formally arrested on suspicion of committing one. Mere detention -- might a routine traffic stop eventually qualify? -- will be sufficient for CODISification. (Current law only authorizes blood or saliva swabs and entry into CODIS for people convicted of a crime.)

Comments

[Robert Cassidy]

So, any police officer can 'suspect' you are driving while intoxicated, pull you over (detaining you), and administer a breathalizer, collecting the DNA in one pass.

I have a hard time believing that some communities (in the south, perhaps) won't give in to the temptation to combine DUI checkpoints and profiling to help fill that database in.