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

Term
Definition / explanation
Victim
Volunteer
Warm link
A victim of crime, whom police may wish to undergo a forensic procedure. The
Act does not apply to victims, who are referred to as ‘excluded volunteers.’ NSW
Police has developed its own policies for carrying out forensic procedures on
victims of crime. In many ways these procedures reflect the legislative position
on volunteers.
A person other than a suspect or excluded volunteer who volunteers to a police
officer to undergo a forensic procedure, or, in the case of a child or an incapable
person, whose parent or guardian volunteers to a police officer that the child or
incapable person undergo a forensic procedure.
Where police take a DNA sample from a person because they suspect it will
link the person to DNA obtained from the crime scene or victim, and it does.
By contrast, a cold link is where a suspect or crime scene is linked to another
unsolved crime scene through a match made on the DNA database, usually
where there is no previous intelligence suggesting the person and/or the crime
scenes are linked.
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NSW Ombudsman
DNA sampling and other forensic procedures conducted on suspects and volunteers under the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000