---
title: "Police Are Collecting DNA From People Without Telling Them"
description: "The New York Police Department is growing a massive DNA database of thousands of genetic profiles, The New York Times reports."
date: "2019-08-16"
modified: "2019-08-16"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/police-dna-database"
categories:
  - "DNA"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Genetics"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "dna"
  - "New York"
  - "police"
  - "the digest"
---

# Police Are Collecting DNA From People Without Telling Them

![The New York Police Department is growing a massive DNA database of thousands of genetic profiles, The New York Times reports.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/dna-police-database.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## DNA Database

The New York Police Department is accumulating a massive DNA database of thousands of genetic profiles, [*The* *New York Times* reports](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/nyregion/nypd-dna-database.html>). DNA samples were sourced from convicts and even from people who were simply questioned.

The practice raises questions about privacy rights and civil liberties, especially because the cops collected some DNA samples without even telling subjects, gathering the material from objects like coffee cups, cigarettes, and the rims of water bottles.

Particularly egregious is a sample taken from a 12-year-old who had his DNA sample collected from a straw after talking to the police in 2018, according to the *Times*.

## GATTACA

Chief of detectives of the the NYPD Dermot F. Shea told *The Times* that the police wasn't just "indiscriminately collecting DNA. If we did, it would be a database of millions and millions.”

Civil liberties lawyers are working on challenging the NYPD's methods on the basis of the practice violating the Fourth Amendment — and that it erodes trust in the police, especially when those who haven't committed a crime have their DNA sampled.

**READ MORE:** [N.Y.P.D. Detectives Gave a Boy, 12, a Soda. He Landed in a DNA Database.](<https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/15/nyregion/nypd-dna-database.html>) \[*The New York Times*\]

**More on DNA:** *[This DNA Testing Company Gave Its Data to the FBI](<https://futurism.com/dna-testing-data-fbi>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)