Getting FBI’s free DNA system is a no-brainer. What are we waiting for?

A deal between SA and the FBI in the US for the use of its high tech DNA system Codis is in the final stages of being signed, police have confirmed.

This will be the final step in adopting the Combined DNA Index System  — rated as one of the best and fastest DNA processing systems in the world.

The letter of agreement would see the FBI supply the internationally used system, along with maintenance and all upgrades, at no cost to SA.

Already used by 58 other countries and more than 90 international law enforcement agencies and forensic science laboratories, it is endorsed by International Chiefs of Police.

This week police spokesperson Col Athlenda Mathe told the Sunday Times Daily: “The agreement between the FBI and SAPS to acquire Codis is in the final stages.”

The system has the algorithm embedded and is able to perform the familial searching required for different forensic DNA profiles on the database. It is foreseen that the current DNA tracing system will work with Codis, improving its functionality, police said.

Meanwhile, biochemistry and IT expert Stewart Allen, who created STRlab, our current system, agreed that Codis is a valuable tool for DNA investigation in SA.

He said it was built to adapt to any developments in DNA profiling technology, and is adaptable to the judicial laws of different countries.

It’s shocking that the offer of a free service of international standards cannot be expedited. It’s obvious that in cases, particularly rape, where there is DNA, that profiling is crucial. 

—  Gareth Newham, head of the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme

“Codis also provides for an international DNA profile sharing standard for criminal investigations, without compromising the security of the South African DNA database.

“It offers a different scope. It’s necessary from an international perspective. It offers integrity of personal information and satisfies all the requirements of the POPI Act,” he said.

“It’s a locally installed system with a firewall that would be controlled by SAPS with crossovers happening only through actual sharing, which is also controlled. There is no possibility of spying on data — Botswana has had Codis since 2004 and Mauritius since 2006. Smaller countries with much less crime see the value while we wait around.”

A recent question to parliament about the current status of the agreement between the FBI and SAPS on the introduction of Codis saw new national commissioner Gen Sehlahle Fannie Masemola state that the agreement was in “temporary abeyance” pending the appointment of a new national police commissioner, and would now “be prioritised for consideration and finalisation”.

Gareth Newham, head of the Justice and Violence Prevention Programme at the Institute for Security Studies, said procurement was a fundamental problem for SAPS.

“It’s shocking that the offer of a free service of international standards cannot be expedited,” Newham said, adding that a good system with technical capabilities was key to fighting gender-based violence.

“It’s obvious that in cases, particularly rape, where there is DNA, that profiling is crucial. It is scientific evidence that can place a suspect at the scene, that can be used to charge and eventually convict a criminal and can even do away with the need for testimony from a victim who is likely to be extremely traumatised.”

The system could merge the fight against crime, experts say, one being the Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Act of 2013 — known as the DNA Act — that was promulgated in January 2015.

SA took a major step forward in the fight against GBV and other violent crime last week with the approval of crucial DNA legislation. This will enable taking DNA samples from convicted offenders to be added to a national register.

Codis would bring the addition of familial searching — the ability to identify inexact or partial matches that could indicate a kinship or relationship between profiles.

The new DNA Act will speed up the process to populate it, after the process had stalled since 2015.

A two-year “transitional period” given to SAPS for collecting DNA samples from convicted offenders turned into a stumbling block that sparked numerous delays due to insufficient trained officers to process the entire prison population and other challenges, explained Vanessa Lynch, director of DNAforAfrica.

“This led to an incomplete Convicted Offender Index on the National Forensic DNA Database and prisoners being released without cheek swabs done.”

Policing expert Annalize van Wyk, who was chair of the portfolio committee on police and whip for the committee when the original bill was signed, is also behind the push for Codis.

“It’s logical. It’s a cheaper and better option. Why develop a new one?” she said.

Concerns from a human resources perspective, she said, were dealt with in the legislation detailing security measures, firewalls between particular categories and guards against abuse of the system where there could be planting of DNA.

The impact of Codis on GBV and violent crime, she said, was immense and the adopted bill means that police can immediately start populating the offender database and taking DNA from every arrested suspect.

“There is a good chance that the police are wasting a lot of human capital on searching for someone who is already in jail. And in cases like the recent (Hillary) Gardee murder where a victim is dead and cannot give evidence, there is always DNA on the scene that will prove who was there,” said Van Wyk.

Mathe said that since 1991, the SAPS has been performing DNA analysis on exhibit material and this has been successfully used in SA courts.

“The Criminal Law (Forensic Procedures) Amendment Bill that is being processed by parliament will permit that buccal samples (swabs taken from inside the mouth) be taken from convicted inmates when they are released from the correctional facility.”

“SAPS will only be using the Codis system in accordance with South African legislation and procedures.”