Police departments in smaller cities are collecting DNA samples from citizens, even if they are not charged or suspected of committing a crime, according to a new ProPublica report. The cities have begun to assemble their own DNA databases, created with help of privacy labs in order to help law enforcement investigate minor crimes. Privacy advocates are concerned police departments will abuse the power to collect DNA samples, but as consensual DNA collection is a relatively new way to collect data, the rules remain unclear. “There’s no laws, there’s nothing,” said Bensalem Police Department’s Frederick Harran. “We’re in uncharted territory,” he said. "There’s nothing governing what we’re doing.”
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