Paging the ACLU...

This NY Times story raises the interesting issue of police use of "DNA sweeps" in criminal investigations. Obviously, police asking people for their genetic information is always going to raise red flags among civil liberties advocates, but Dick Seed (I kid you not) goes perhaps a little far when he claims the tactic "usurps his civil rights". He is, of course, not being compelled or coerced to submit to a DNA test, and there is no indication in this case that not giving a DNA swab would cast aspersions on his innocence (though there is clearly a heightened risk of that). The biggest danger to civil liberties that I can really imagine is that police would be tempted to keep records of the submitted DNA, which down the road could lead to all sorts of abuses...