Police in some overseas countries have begun using genealogical websites to solve crime. But are Police here using similar techniques to identify crime suspects? The answer is no.

In the United States in a famous recent case, DNA given to a genealogical website was used to trace a man suspected of being the so-called “Golden State Killer” in California for crimes committed in the 1970s and 80s. Investigators identified the suspect, 72-year-old James DeAngelo, through a relative who had given a sample of their DNA to a free, open source, hobby website which helped people learn about their family backgrounds.

The investigators studied online family trees and were able to make a link between DNA found at one of the crime scenes and the suspect’s relative. As the information on the genealogical website was publicly available online, police didn’t require a search warrant. The investigators then obtained a DNA sample from an object the suspect had thrown away, testing it against DNA found at the crime scenes.

Familial testing

Familial DNA testing is legal in California and in nine other states in America but there are ethical and privacy issues. Critics say the DNA information collected by a genealogical website was not given for the purpose of solving crime and this unintended consequence is troubling to many contributors.

In New Zealand, the Law Commission is currently reviewing how police here use DNA to investigate crime. The review’s scope will include the issue of familial searches of genealogical websites to identify suspects.

Reviewing the law

The overall objective of the Law Commission review is to form a view on whether the law is keeping pace with developments in forensic science, international best practice and public attitudes.

Under the Criminal Investigations (Bodily Samples) Act 1995, New Zealand Police can carry out searches of two DNA data bases. These searches are strictly controlled and managed by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR). One of the data bases contains DNA of people charged with, or convicted of, certain crimes or who had voluntarily provided a sample. The other stores unidentified DNA found at crime scenes.

Familial searching of these data bases already takes place. At the request of Police, the ESR can run familial searches to find close matches to an unknown DNA sample.

The Law Commission says part of its review includes the question of using genealogical websites for searches – something Police in this country say they currently do not do and have no plans to do.

The Law Commission is producing an issues paper on the topic in October 2018 followed by a final report in 2019. In the meantime, there’s this online resource to help you understand more about the issues and to tell your DNA story. 

Recent news coverage about the Law Commission’s review can be found here,  and here. You can listen to this podcast about how NZ Police use abandoned DNA. We also have this related blog post.

Image credit: Family tree via Pixabay under Creative Commons licence.

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