Legislation would include pre-1996 convicts in database

MAT-SU -- Alaska crime scene investigators have been using DNA analysis on evidence since the late 1980s and a new law is working its way through the legislature in Juneau that could make it possible for police to get new leads on old cases to track down habitual criminals who have yet to change their habits.

A bill was passed by the House of Representatives that would expand Alaska's database of DNA samples from convicted felons. DNA analysis has been changing the way investigators look at crime scenes, and the new law will expand the state's forensic tool box.

Alaska has taken DNA samples, sometimes called DNA fingerprints, from convicted felons since 1996. At first the law was not written to be retroactive or to include every type of felon. This is the second time the law has been re-written in order to be more inclusive, according to Chris Beheim the director of the state crime lab.

"The trend around the country is to collect from all felons. I believe that now there are 26 states that collect from all felons. Washington went all felons just last year," Beheim said.

The new law -- if it passes legislation -- will mean that the state must obtain DNA samples from felons who were convicted prior to 1996 and who are either behind bars or free on parole or probation.

Just as most people learned in kindergarten, usually it is a small fraction of people who ruin things for everyone else.

Beheim said the experience in other states shows that an expanded database can help police catch those people.

"When Oregon expanded its database to include all felons, their hits went up 400 percent," Beheim said.

A hit in this case is a match between a DNA fingerprint in a crime scene database and one from the known felons database. DNA fingerprinting has changed the way evidence is analyzed after collection. It has also changed the investigators' use of the evidence they find at the crime scene.

"There are essentially continuous changes," Captain Dennis Casanovas of the Alaska State Troopers Palmer post said.

"Not very long ago you had to actually have a blood sample [to identify a criminal]." Casanovas said. "Some items that may have minute traces of saliva on them weren't collected a few years ago, but now would be collected and sent to the lab [for analysis]."

Years ago a cigarette butt found at a crime scene in a home with no ashtrays or evidence of smoking would have been suspicious. But investigators might have only recorded the brand of cigarette in a notebook, instead of saving the filter and sending it to the lab. Casanovas also has examples of evidence that was commonly saved before DNA, but is used in a different fashion now.

"The same pop can that we gathered up five or 10 years ago to process for latent fingerprints, we are now sending to the lab for DNA analysis," he said.

Likewise with ball caps. Those were often photographed and the photos could circulate during interviews with people who might recognize the cap. That's still done, but caps and other clothing can also often yield its wearer's DNA fingerprint.

"Now we're going to send it to the lab to determine if it might have pieces of hair or skin in it," Casanovas.

Alaska law enforcement uses software called CODIS (for Combined DNA Index System) that is standardized for a national DNA database where 40 states and Puerto Rico regularly upload data, according to Beheim. It's possible for state-to-state matches with older evidence, but according to Beheim a database match is only a small step toward building a case against a suspect.

"If there's a hit in CODIS against a convicted offender, the cops are going to use that as probable cause to apply for a search warrant," Beheim said. "They're going to ask permission [from a judge] to get a new DNA sample from the suspect which could then be used in criminal proceedings."