Nearly 10 months after promising cuts to New York City’s controversial DNA database, city authorities have barely made a dent in reducing its scope, according to the city’s own records.
In February, the NYPD promised to downsize the city’s DNA database, which advocates have criticized for perpetually retaining the genetic signatures of tens of thousands of residents, many of whom had their samples taken without consent. With some exemptions, the removals were supposed to affect residents in the database whose profiles were at least two years old and who had not been convicted of crimes at the time of review.
The scope of the proposed purge remains unclear. As of this February, roughly 8,000 people had been added to the database, despite not having been convicted of crimes.
But data released from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) earlier this month shows that New York City has only fully removed 938 DNA profiles from its controversial database since July. An additional thousand-plus profiles have been marked for removal, though authorities did not respond to requests for comment about when they would actually be purged.
With the sluggish pace of removals and additional profiles being added in the meantime, the size of the database, which now stands at over 30,000 profiles, has barely inched downwards since February, alarming public defenders and some elected officials.
“The continued increase in the size of the OCME DNA index shows that the NYPD is both slow-walking any removal of profiles while also rapidly ramping up collection," said Terri Rosenblatt, Supervising Attorney of the DNA Unit at the Legal Aid Society.
"At this rate, there will be no meaningful reduction in the size of the City’s index and, instead, it will continue to grow as an unregulated DNA index filled with the predominantly Black and brown victims of genetic stop-and-frisk who the NYPD have long targeted for racist over policing."
In recent years, the Legal Aid Society as well as several privacy rights groups have attacked the rapidly expanding database, which they contend is not authorized by state law and has been developed with few meaningful regulations. The state of New York maintains its own DNA database which only includes profiles of those who have been convicted of felonies and most misdemeanors.
State Senator Brad Hoylman, a Democrat who represents Manhattan’s 27th District, has introduced a bill that would clarify state law to ensure that individual municipalities cannot create their own genetic surveillance systems.
“There’s nothing more personal than your DNA,” said Hoylman. “The fact that the city of New York is operating outside the bounds of the law by keeping their own database intact and slow walking reform suggests to me that it needs to be shut down as soon as possible.”
The NYPD did not respond to requests for comment.
One NYPD detective, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the subject, raised concerns that the expungement of profiles could reduce leads for investigators probing violent crimes, including rapes and homicides.
“People are focused on those who are involved in criminality and feel they are unjustly prosecuted, but there’s very little advocacy for the victims of crime who need closure,” he said. “Limiting DNA may further limit those aspects of closing a case, whether it be finding someone affiliated with the crime, who may talk to police, or the person who actually committed the crime.”
The detective also added that hits from the DNA should be one of several elements of an investigation. “In the time where there’s a justified skepticism in the police process, bringing in science-based information helps build the picture of what transpired, especially for people who may not believe what the officer said.”
Rosenblatt, the Legal Aid Attorney, points out in some cases police and prosecutors have used DNA evidence inappropriately, contributing to wrongful arrests or convictions. In 2015, for example, a man in Jamaica, Queens was wrongfully accused of a robbery in a Dunkin’ Donuts, in part, because his DNA happened to be present on a cash register that the robber had touched. The man was jailed pre-trial before his eventual acquittal.
Albany could decide on the fate of New York City’s DNA database in 2021. A spokesperson for Senator Hoylman’s team confirmed their bill banning municipal databases would be one of their legislative priorities going into the new year.
Update, December 15th: Following Gothamist’s publication of this story, OCME spokesperson Aja Worthy-Davis sent the following statement: “Across our city, those who have been directly affected by violent crime appreciate the role DNA analysis as a tool plays in giving them answers and ultimately delivering justice. To date, there have been 2,400 DNA samples flagged for removal from the local database. This ongoing process is complex, and accuracy is essential, however with consideration to public concerns we have effectively removed access to those cases in the process of elimination. We have kept our partners updated on this process throughout, and will continue to do so.”
