Taxi drivers, or anyone else for that matter, should not feel obligated to provide the RCMP with with a voluntary sample of their DNA, and the RCMP should not be allowed to ask a large section of the population to provide a DNA sample - especially since the police say none of the taxi drivers in Prince George are suspects in their investigation.
If the RCMP have a suspect they can always get a judge's order to get the DNA sample.
With police requesting blanket DNA sampling, people are scared to use taxis for fear that one of the drivers is a serial killer.
What would happen if the police believed someone of East Indian or Native descent was involved? Would it be OK for them to request everyone of East Indian or Native descent to provide a DNA sample?
If someone is killed on school grounds, is it OK for the police to ask every teacher at the school, every parent of a child that goes to the school and every student to provide a DNA sample?
In England and Wales, it is now law that anyone arrested on suspicion of involvement in any recordable offence must have their DNA sample taken and stored in a DNA database. This is done whether or not they are charged or convicted.
Innocent people who happen to be at a crime scene prior to the investigation may also turn out to be suspects.
This huge database has not increased the likelihood of solving crimes, as the liaison officer for the Scottish Police DNA Database said in a 2006 report by GeneWatch UK.
He expressed concerns that blanket retention of DNA could reduce public support for the program and "the general retention of profiles from the un-convicted has not been shown to significantly enhance criminal intelligence or detection."
As of 2006, the list contained 150,000 people who have never been charged with an offence - the population of Prince George and Kamloops combined - and one third of the U.K. black male population is now in the database.
Although local RCMP say DNA samples will be destroyed after the investigation is finished and the samples will only be used in relation to four cases, the police do not say what will happen to the results of these samples.
They may be kept in a database forever.
Allowing blanket requests for DNA samples will lead us down a slippery slope, one atop which the RCMP should not be allowed to place their sled.
