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

The FSS is still the largest forensic services provider in the United Kingdom, with 77 per cent of the market share of
the crime scene and person samples loaded onto the database. The FSS also plays a major role in developing new
forensic technology. In November 2004, the FSS reported that it now processes over 40,000 DNA samples a month,
using a fully automated system. DNA samples are now processed by machine from beginning to end without human
intervention, to speed up the process. 201 In May 2005, the FSS announced the launch of its Forensic Response
Vehicle, a mobile laboratory which travels to crime scenes to perform on the spot forensic services. The vehicle is
currently being trialled in five regional police services. The FSS explained:
Samples will be fed into the van, analysed, and checked against the National DNA Database and police will
have a match report back in approximately eight hours. As well as being at least three times faster than the
current DNA turnaround time, this cuts out administration effort as items of evidence have until now been passed
along a supply chain which eventually sees them arrive at a laboratory. The advance has been made possible
through technological developments allowing the condensing of an entire DNA-processing line (whole building
size) into a mobile environment. 202
Fingerprints and footprints can also be captured digitally, analysed in the van, and compared with prints on relevant
databases through satellite links, providing prompt results to police at the crime scene. 203
3.4.2. New Zealand
New Zealand established its national DNA Databank in 1996 – the second country in the world to do so, after the
United Kingdom. The database has 50,000 profiles from suspects and offenders on it, and a further 10,000 profiles
from unsolved crime scenes. 204 The database is administered by the Institute of Environmental Science and Research,
which is owned by the New Zealand Government, but operates with an independent board of directors. 205
The power to take people’s DNA and put it on the DNA Databank comes from the Criminal Investigations (Bodily
Samples) Act 1995. Police officers can take samples from certain suspects and convicted offenders for comparison
against samples obtained from crime scenes.
DNA samples can be taken from suspects by consent. If a suspect does not consent to giving a sample, a
commissioned police officer may apply to a court for a “compulsion order” authorising police to take the sample.
Unlike the position in New South Wales, there is no mechanism for police officers to compel a suspect to provide a
DNA sample. Police officers can compel certain convicted offenders to provide a sample, but there is a mechanism
for a hearing if the convicted offender objects to the compulsion notice.
DNA profiles of convicted offenders are stored on the database. Profiles of suspects can only be stored on the
database if the suspect is convicted of the offence for which the sample was taken. 206
The New Zealand legislation was recently amended so that: 207
• DNA samples could be taken by buccal swab. Previously, if a person’s DNA profile was going to be put on the
database, a blood sample had to be taken, either by fingerprick or directly from the vein.
• Compulsory DNA samples could be taken from convicted offenders for a broader range of offences, including
burglary.
• Samples could be taken from people currently serving sentences for serious crimes, who were sentenced
before the legislation commenced.
There was some consideration of whether police should be able to compel any person to provide a DNA sample on
arrest, but this was rejected on the basis that it would be too great a departure from the current regime, which aims to
allow police to take DNA samples with minimal infringement on people’s fundamental rights and freedoms. 208
New Zealand Police is required to publish detailed information about DNA sampling in its Annual Report, including:
• the number of samples taken by consent
• the number of applications for compulsion orders (for suspects and convicted offenders)
• the number of compulsion orders granted and refused (again for suspects and convicted offenders)
• the number of prosecutions where DNA evidence has been adduced and the result of the prosecution
• the number of occasions a police officer has used force to obtain a sample
• the total number of DNA profiles stored on the DNA database during the relevant period (broken down by
number taken by consent and number taken by compulsion order)
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NSW Ombudsman
DNA sampling and other forensic procedures conducted on suspects and volunteers under the Crimes (Forensic Procedures) Act 2000