This seems ... very unethical
Photo: Ryan McFadden/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images The San Francisco police department has allegedly used a database of sexual-assault survivors’ DNA to search for suspects in unrelated crimes, recently arresting a woman for a felony property offense after identifying her through her 2016 rape kit.
“The primary concern that I and my office have … is with detecting and preventing future crime,” Boudin said, according to the Chronicle. “We want San Francisco to be as safe as possible, [and] we want survivors of sexual assault to feel comfortable and safe reporting and cooperating with law enforcement.”
It stands to reason that survivors would feel less safe bringing a rape or an assault to the police if they knew the DNA collected in a forensic exam — itself an invasive process that involves hours of extensive questioning, blood samples, and swabbing — might eventually be used against them.
Speaking to the Post, Boudin also noted that the state constitution mandates that this kind of evidence should be destroyed or returned if it’s no longer being used to prosecute a sexual-assault or rape case. But across the country, huge backlogs of rape kits have piled up, many of them sitting untested for years.
In a statement, San Francisco Chief of Police William Scott said that, as far as he knew, “our existing DNA collection policies have been legally vetted and conform with state and national forensic standards.” Still, he acknowledged the matter was “sufficiently concerning” and said the department “will immediately begin reviewing our DNA collection practices and policies,” in cooperation with the city and district attorneys’ offices.
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