Interior Ministry suggests DNA fingerprinting

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan has drafted a bill to introduce fingerprinting and DNA profiling, Tengrinews reports citing Express-K. The police have been working on the bill for over a year. According to the Interior Ministry, fingerprinting and genome profiling will take place on a voluntary basis and only several categories of citizens will be required to have their fingerprints and genome samples taken. Convicts, investigated persons, law enforcement officers, soldiers, firefighters, court officers, rangers, cash-in-transit guards, aircraft and marine vessel’s crews, people suffering from memory loss and employees of hazardous production facilities are among those who are required to register in the DNA fingerprint and genome database. The DNA fingerprint and genome registrations are going to to be made free of charge. “Certain groups of foreigners such as labor migrants who enter Kazakhstan for Permanent Residence and violators who are subject to deportation fall under the category of those who are required to register their fingerprints as well. The data will be stored in the central database,” Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Yerlik Kenenbayev said. According to Botagoz Zhagiparova, Chief of Dactyloscopy and Name Registration Department at the Prosecutor General’s Office, the innovation will help the police solve crimes and identify corpses more efficiently. “Our database currently holds more than 2 million fingerprint samples of convicts, detainees and homeless people. Not a single sample has ever been lost. The security and control are very strict,” added Ms. Zhagiparova.