Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000 - NSW Ombudsman - NSW ...

Recommendation 89
Staff in all laboratories which provide DNA analysis services to NSW Police be required to provide a DNA
sample, to be included on DAL’s staff elimination database.
NSW Police and NSW Health both support this recommendation. 1133
12.4.2. Police elimination databases
The United Kingdom set up a police elimination database in 2000, which now has DNA profiles from over 82,000
officers on it. Providing a sample was voluntary for existing officers but is a condition of employment for new
officers. 1134 Profiles on the elimination database are not routinely searched against unsolved crime scenes; a
particular officer’s profile is searched against a particular crime scene sample only where it appears that the sample
may have been contaminated. 1135 A separate sampling kit has been developed for taking DNA from police officers. 1136
At this stage, there is no police elimination database in New South Wales. However, we understand there has been
some discussion between DAL and NSW Police about the need to establish one. DAL provided the following example
of contamination by a police officer:
Case Study 81
“In a murder case from 2003, the officer in charge of the case and the DPP were extremely concerned about
the unknown profile on the victim’s jumper that did not match the suspect. Was it relevant and how would the
evidence be used in defending the accused The police were gearing up to screen a number of individuals in
the hope of identifying from whom the DNA originated. Then in 2005, a violent armed robbery occurred and
the same DNA profile was found. DAL... informed police of the match and suggested that they should look at
police who were common to both cases. It turned out that the forensic services investigator was involved in
both cases and after the police officer volunteered a sample his DNA was found to match the unknown DNA
profile from the murder victim.” 1137
Of the 180 forensic procedures included in our audit of DAL, at least one was a DNA sample taken from a police
officer because it appeared evidence from the crime scene was contaminated. The officer had cut himself while
examining the crime scene, and there was forensic material on crime scene evidence which did not come from the
suspect. On analysis it was determined that the profile obtained from the officer’s buccal swab matched the profile
obtained from the crime scene evidence. This meant that the forensic material in question had come from the police
officer, and not from some other unknown offender. 1138
DAL has told us that it is not at all unusual for DNA from police officers, scene of crime officers and forensic
services officers to be found on crime scene evidence, although this would generally only come to light after police
and laboratory staff have spent considerable time and resources attempting to identify the contributor. DAL has
commented that:
Many more unidentified profiles sitting on the DNA database and thought to belong to the perpetrators of the
crime may in fact belong to other police service employees... the conclusion must be stated explicitly – if
the police do not want to have a profile on a police elimination DNA database, they should not be involved in
the collection, examination and investigation of crimes scene samples. Their reluctance to provide reference
samples has resulted in the very thing they have wanted to avoid – namely their profiles being placed onto the
crime scene DNA database. This has the potential to jeopardise investigations with detectives wasting time
hunting for the source of these unknown ‘offenders’. Their reluctance will also inevitably result in a case where
the true offender may walk free through the inability of the police to explain adventitious DNA found on an
extremely probative piece of evidence. 1139
NSW Police already takes fingerprints from potential police officers, scene of crime officers and special constables
when they apply for employment with NSW Police. The prints are used to conduct a criminal history check, and are
retained by NSW Police on a database, which can be accessed as required for elimination purposes. Prints taken
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NSW Ombudsman
DNA sampling and other forensic procedures conducted on suspects and volunteers under the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000