What protocols does the NDDB have in place to ensure that the privacy issue is respected when it comes to DNA samples from convicted offenders?
The DNA Data Bank is an investigative resource for law enforcement agencies as a tightly controlled, restricted access, library of DNA typing information for law enforcement purposes. The Data Bank collects and stores information from crime scenes and convicted offenders in a process that makes the identity of the person whose DNA information is in the Data Bank anonymous to the staff of the Data Bank. In the case of convicted offenders, a DNA profile can only be developed from a DNA sample collected pursuant to the Criminal Code, and the development of a DNA profile is done in the Data Bank with no knowledge of the identity of the donor of the biological sample at the time it is analyzed and subsequently stored (1). This profile is represented by a series of numbers not unlike the common bar code that is universally used in consumer product packaging. The Data Bank has two separate indices: the Crime Scene Index ( CSI ) and the Convicted Offender Index ( COI ). In accordance with the
