Royal Canadian Mounted Police
www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Common menu bar links
Gazette - Forensics labs set to link up
Archived Content
Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats on the "Contact Us" page.
NEWS NOTES
By Caroline Ross
G8 countries and Interpol have successfully tested a fledgling electronic network that will allow their forensics laboratories to instantly exchange and search hundreds of DNA profiles that may be related to major international crimes.
Built on the Interpol global police communication platform (I-24/7), the network provides authenticated DNA specialists in G8 countries with a secure mailbox to send and receive multiple crime scene DNA profiles at the click of a button. The receiving labs can then search the profiles to identify hits in their own crime scene and convicted offender databases. If a search produces a hit, relevant information is funnelled back into the main I-24/7 system and the appropriate agencies are notified.
G8 countries first tested the network in June 2007, when the FBI Laboratory Services division sent a mock DNA profile to the RCMP National DNA Data Bank (NDDB) and the U.K. Forensic Science Service. Both parties received the request and provided search results back to the FBI within minutes.
The network will streamline current search processes, which require G8 forensics labs to forward queries through their respective Interpol bureaus. Several countries now send requests by fax, says Sylvain Lalonde, technology/information manager for the NDDB, and it can sometimes be difficult to read small-print data after several facsimile transmissions. Once the new network is up and running, Lalonde says data exchanges will be “crystal clear.”
The search network is being developed by the G8 Lyon-Roma DNA Search Request Network Technical Working Group, in partnership with Interpol. The parties are currently working to finalize technical requirements and legal frameworks for exchanging data under the DNA Identification Act.
Although Interpol maintains a DNA profile database that is accessible to all member countries, privacy laws prohibit most G8 countries from releasing convicted offender profiles to the database.
The new network will allow G8 countries to share anonymous crime scene DNA information to establish a match without the need to release DNA profiles from their databases of known individuals.
“Between the G8 countries, they have the majority of the world’s DNA profiles,” say S/Sgt Kevin Fahey, officer in charge of operations at Interpol Ottawa. “You’re tapping into the biggest source of profiles that the world has.”
