Expanding DNA database

Collecting DNA samples from people charged with a crime shouldn't be viewed as an invasion of privacy. It's a new avenue to an old pursuit - catching criminals. There are plenty of examples where a DNA sample from a prisoner has led to an arrest in an unsolved murder, rape or robbery and few incidents of misuse of the data, even with 57,190 inmate samples stored by the state.

A bill that would expand the state's ability to take DNA samples from criminal suspects has raised concerns over civil liberties. But those concerns are ill-founded and ignore the scientific facts. Here's why: The procedure to analyze DNA samples in criminal cases isn't sophisticated enough to pry sensitive personal data from the genetic samples.

But the power of DNA to help solve decades-old crimes - as well as clear the innocent - is unmatched. Just last week, city police charged an Anne Arundel County man serving prison time for murder with the 1996 slaying of a Northwest Baltimore woman because of a DNA match.

Legislation proposed by Gov. Martin O'Malley would have allowed for the collection of DNA samples at the time of arrest, which would have greatly expanded the state database. Opposition from members of the Legislative Black Caucus and others centered on suspects' rights and protections for the innocent. Those are valid concerns, to be sure, but it should be noted that blacks are disproportionately victims of crime as they are suspects. Of the 547 people murdered in Maryland in 2006, 436, or 79 percent, were African-American.

Supporters of the bill have since scaled back the DNA collection to people charged with violent crimes and felony burglary. The legislation also provides some essential safeguards, allowing for the destruction of DNA samples of people acquitted of crimes.

With reasonable compromises in place, lawmakers should move the bill forward and give law enforcement greater access to the crime-fighting technology available today.