I forgot to attach the national AfD letter in that last email.  See below.

David e. Delk,  Alliance for Democracy - Portland Chapter 503 232 5495 www.afd-pdx.org
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To: David J. Karp
Senior Counsel, Office of Legal Policy
Room 4509, Main Justice Building
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Washington, DC 20530

From: The Alliance for Democracy National Council

Re: OAG Docket No. 119

Date: May 16, 2008

We are extremely concerned about the Justice Department’s proposed changes for implementation of the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005.

In 2000, the Alliance for Democracy organized the Democracy Brigades—civil disobedience in the Capitol Rotunda to call attention to the influence that corporate campaign donors had over policy development in several areas critical to the wellbeing of American citizens. We were proud to take a stand even when doing so meant being arrested, and risking imprisonment or fines. More recently, we have supported members and organizations who have risked similar arrest in order to protest the Iraq war and inaction on climate change.

We believe that harvesting DNA samples from every person arrested is an unnecessary and unwarranted intrusion on civil liberties and personal privacy, designed more to deter individuals from acting on conscience than to protect the public. This proposed change turns the presumption of innocence—a cornerstone of human rights—on its head by presuming that every citizen arrested, for whatever reason, is likely to be guilty of a crime in the future.

We also object to rule changes that will allow DNA to be collected and information stored by private contractors. This will increase the possibilities of loss of, or abuse of, sensitive private information. It will also decrease transparency and accountability. DNA is not just a fingerprint. It is medical information, and should be treated with the same care and confidentiality

Lastly, this rule, as written, will swell the government’s DNA database with an estimated one million additional samples per year, increasing the chances of mismatches, especially in the case of migrants and minority citizens, who are more likely to be arrested and detained than whites.

The proposed changes are a threat to privacy and civil liberties and will disproportionally impact minorities and the right to dissent. They should not be implemented.

Thank you