Iowa to expand DNA collection from criminals

CEDAR RAPIDS | Iowa law enforcement is about to get what Johnson County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek calls a valuable and important tool that will help close cases.

However, a civil liberties advocate calls the collection of DNA from people who commit relatively low-level crimes invasive, expensive and unnecessary (and) diverts time and money away from more serious cases.

Iowa, like several states, collects DNA from felons. In 2013, the Iowa Legislature voted to expand that to adults convicted of most aggravated misdemeanors. The effective date was delayed until this year to allow law enforcement agencies to prepare for implementation.

The pending July 1 implementation has re-ignited a debate over how to maintain the proper balance between community safety and constitutional freedoms.That was reflected in the 2013 passage of the bill: 84-15 in the House and 29-20 in the Senate. Opponents to the bill were a collection of some of the Legislatures most liberal and conservative members.

Pulkrabek has no qualms about sampling and no doubts about its benefits.

When you look at the universe of people who are charged with criminal offenses, if you just look at just the universe of felons, its a small universe, Pulkrabek said. When you expand it by aggravated misdemeanors, it grows substantially."

The other benefit, according to Linn County Sheriffs Office Col. John Stuekle, is that hes seen many cases of felons getting arrested again on misdemeanor charges.

They may be done dealing with the Department of Corrections, so they were slipping through the cracks and their DNA may not be caught and put into the database, he said.

They may have a point, Paul Stageberg said before retiring June 27 as administrator of the Division of Criminal and Juvenile Justice Planning. In many states, felonies are crimes in which the penalty may involve a year of more of incarceration, he said. In Iowa, an aggravated misdemeanor can result in a prison sentence of up to two years.

So our aggravated misdemeanors, for the most part, would most likely be felonies in most states, he said.

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Iowa to expand DNA collection from criminals