Black groups, ACLU oppose new DNA rules

ANNAPOLIS | Black lawmakers said Wednesday that Gov. Martin O’Malley’s new regulations expanding the collection of DNA evidence violated a deal narrowly crafted earlier this year to win passage of one of the Democrat governor’s hallmark proposals.

“This is exactly what we feared,” said state Sen. Verna L. Jones, chairwoman of the Legislative Black Caucus, about the new regulations that allow state police to expand their collection of DNA samples.

“This is typical when you have an administration that doesn’t want to see the implementation of legislation that has been negotiated,” she said. “We have to hold the governor accountable for this. That’s where the buck stops.”

Members of the Legislative Black Caucus, ACLU of Maryland, the Maryland NAACP and the Office of the Public Defender decried the new regulations Wednesday in an hour-long conference call with reporters.

The groups said the new regulations allow police to collect DNA samples shortly after arrest, do not guarantee expungement of the DNA records and allow police to track relatives through the samples that are collected - all of which are barred in the law passed earlier this year.

But the administration of Mr. O’Malley, a Democrat, said the new regulations do none of that, and that the American Civil Liberties Union is attempting to block the law even though it failed to do so during the legislative session.

“The story is the ACLU did not like the legislation, they’re not going to like the law and they’re going to oppose the law at every turn,” said Kristen Mahoney, director of the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention.

Republicans who co-sponsored the legislation said the criticism appeared rooted in technicalities.

“The ACLU has been, I think, unduly alarmist,” said House Minority Whip Christopher B. Shank, Western Maryland Republican and member of the House Judiciary Committee, which vetted the legislation expanding DNA collection.

But those opposed to the regulations said their criticisms were not arrived at lightly. Lawyers for the ACLU, Black Caucus and Office of the Public Defender, studied the regulations after they were released, said Cindy Boersma, legislative director for the ACLU .

“There have been a lot of eyes looking over these regulations and reaching similar conclusions,” she said.

Mrs. Boersma noted that the definition of “charge” is written broadly in the regulations, including allowing citizens to file a criminal complaint, and that DNA can be collected during booking, something negotiators specifically said they did not want in the legislation

The regulations also only govern expunging DNA records from the federal database but do not dictate how the DNA material is physically destroyed or whether it can be used by local law enforcement, Mrs. Boersma said.

Mr. O’Malley made expanding DNA collection a centerpiece of his 2008 legislative agenda, but had trouble winning support from black lawmakers concerned that the new law would target minority youths. The Democratic governor agreed to sizable compromises with the Black Caucus before it agreed to support his plan.

The proposal was one of the few times Mr. O’Malley has actively courted Republican lawmakers, a distinct minority in both the House and Senate - although he also angered many in his base of supporters, including black lawmakers.

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