Mouth swabs: Police given new powers

Law Officials Ready to Start Expanding DNA Database
Despite the threat of a lawsuit, justice officials said Wednesday that they are ready to quickly expand a DNA database designed to catch criminals, after voters overwhelmingly authorized it. Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Kahn, who helped draft the proposition, said prosecutors in Los Angeles plan to ask that jailers start taking oral swabs next week from inmates after they have been sentenced. Kahn said the proposition is simple to implement because it authorizes mouth swabs. Trained deputies can take the samples, much as detectives in sex crime cases have done for years. The swabs will be sent to the state Department of Justice laboratory in Richmond, Calif., for analysis and storage. Posted by Editor at November 5, 2004 10:23 PM