300 detectives refuse to give DNA for faster crime investigations

About a quarter of the forensic detectives in the Netherlands refused to give an DNA sample for the elimination database of the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI), a spokesperson for the National Police confirmed today, NU reports.

Only about 950 of the 1250 forensic detectives agreed to give a DNA sample. "We can not force people, it happens on a voluntary basis", the police spokesperson said. "But we encourage it." The encouragement seems effective. In May 2012 the database only had DNA samples of 589 forensic detection employees.

The NFI's database is intended to exclude police officers' DNA at a crime scene from possible perpetrator evidence. This generally helps investigations go faster by avoiding unnecessary follow-up testing. In May 2012 the elimination database found 55 matches with DNA profiles of suspected perpetrators in old cases.