WHEREAS, in order to protect the public most effectively, law enforcement professionals have an obligation to use the utmost technologically-advanced methods of investigating criminal activity, and proving criminal activity in a court of law; and WHEREAS, the collection and examination of DNA evidence is the next step in the technological advancement of the art and science of crime investigation; and

WHEREAS, DNA evidence is a proven tool in fighting crime, having been accepted and found reliable by the relevant scientific community; and

WHEREAS, DNA evidence shows particular promise in greatly assisting the investigation of property crimes, while only a small proportion of such crimes are solved due to the limitations of current methods; and

WHEREAS, Great Britain has solved numerous crimes through the data-banking of the DNA samples of arrestees; and

WHEREAS, the United State's systems of DNA collection and examination are underfunded and underutilized; and

WHEREAS, lack of funding has left hundreds of thousands of samples for the nation’s convicted-offender databank unanalyzed; and

WHEREAS, there is also a severe lack of resources to analyze the backlog and ever-increasing caseload of crime scene samples; and

WHEREAS, on balance, when considering the collection of DNA samples, the safety interests of the public outweigh the privacy interests of the arrestee, especially given the non-intrusiveness of the “buccal swab” collection method; and

WHEREAS, the proper use of DNA evidence can not only convict the guilty but exonerate the innocent; now therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) strongly encourages all law enforcement professionals to support legislation that authorizes the taking of DNA samples from individuals at the time of arrest; be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the IACP supports the inclusion in the federal budget of additional funding to support greater use of DNA technology, including funding to analyze both convicted offender and crime scene DNA samples.