No changes coming to Washington state’s DNA collection

Don’t expect the police to start collecting DNA at arrest any time soon in Washington, despite a Supreme Court ruling allowing the practice.

Twenty-eight states currently take a DNA swab at arrest, but Washington is not one of them.

“Today we can only take DNA upon conviction for felonies and certain sexually-motivated misdemeanors,” explained King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg.

Satterberg said the Supreme Court ruling will have no impact in our state. Washington’s Constitution is much more restrictive than the U.S. Constitution when it comes to search and seizure protections.

“We have a different privacy provision,” said Satterberg. “It’s not like the Fourth Amendment. It’s much more protective of privacy rights. My prediction would be that our Supreme Court would not permit taking DNA at arrest.”

Satterberg said it would take a Constitutional Amendment to change that.

Bills to allow the collection of DNA samples at arrest for certain crimes have been introduced in Olympia in recent sessions, but none have made it very far.

Satterberg hopes this Supreme Court ruling will clear the way for the Legislature to take another look at it. He would certainly like to have this tool in his toolbox. “To be able to identify somebody immediately, to know also through their DNA profile whether they have committed other crimes, and not have to wait the two or three years for a felony conviction to be gained, we could solve a lot of serial crimes this way,” he said.

Satterberg said he understands the privacy concerns, but he believes collecting DNA at arrest is no different than collecting fingerprints or taking a mugshot.