Police Sequencer
The police have a weapon of the future – express DNA analysis
Sergey Kolenov, Hi-tech+
A new generation of devices for rapid examination of genetic samples is already changing the work of the police today. A crime can be solved in a couple of hours. Human rights activists criticize this practice, pointing out the possibility of mistakes and abuses.
Genetic analysis has long been a familiar tool in criminology. However, sometimes the police have to wait a long time for the results, especially if the study was ordered in a third-party laboratory. Modern devices for rapid DNA analysis can change the situation and increase disclosure in hot pursuit.
As reported by New York Times, similar "miracle boxes" the size of a computer's system unit work offline and produce results in just 90 minutes.
ANDE Rapid DNA – approved by the FBI
The practice has been actively developing since 2017, when President Trump signed a law on the use of rapid DNA analysis in criminology, allowing access to the FBI's nationwide Codis genetic database. Since then, "miracle boxes" have appeared all over the country, from Delaware to Utah and Texas. A few hours of training is enough to start using a machine for rapid DNA analysis.
The device has already made it possible to identify many robbers, as well as victims of recent wildfires in California.
However, some experts are afraid of abuse and mistakes when using express laboratories. First of all, cases are of concern when a DNA sample is not taken from a suspect, but collected from the crime scene, where the genetic material of several people can mix.
The police say that when faced with complex samples, the device refuses to analyze. In addition, the results themselves are rarely used as evidence in court, usually they just help to conduct an investigation.
Another concern of experts is related to the fact that genetic samples of law-abiding people can get into criminal databases.
This does not apply to Codis, the use of which is strictly regulated – only data obtained from suspects is allowed to be added to it. However, the databases of police districts are not bound by such rules.
As a result, any person who seemed "suspicious" to the police may be asked to undergo a DNA test. Then the data will be checked against the database and, possibly, they will find similarities with samples found at the crime scene. The police consider this a wonderful opportunity to find intruders. Human rights activists disagree: they believe that this practice will complicate the lives of blacks, because in order to become "suspicious", sometimes a sideways glance is enough.
It remains to be hoped that the methods used in express DNA analysis machines are more accurate than those of companies like 23andMe. The latter, as the experiment of a Canadian journalist showed, sometimes do not even recognize samples of identical twins.
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