Published Tuesday, 20 November, 2007 at 04:38 PM
Minister for Police, Corrective Services and Sport
The Honourable Judy Spence
ROB MESSENGER EMBARRASSES COALITION AGAIN
Police and Corrective Services Minister Judy Spence said Rob Messenger’s claim that the collection of DNA samples of prisoners has been abandoned is nonsense and he is an embarrassment to the opposition.
“Mr Messenger has again demonstrated his total lack of understanding of police and corrective services matters, by ignoring the simple fact that the DNA of most of the people in our prisons has already been collected by police, when the offender was first taken to a watch house, before they even entered prison,” Ms Spence said.
“Mr Messenger either doesn’t understand this simple process, or is under the impression that a person’s DNA changes once they enter a prison.
“Mr Messenger would fail to get past even the first round of ‘Are you smarter than a fifth grader’, as he can not understand the simple police processes in place in our watch houses.
“Under the Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2000, anyone arrested by police for an indictable offence can now be required to provide a DNA sample at the police watch house, for cross referencing against historical crimes in the police database.
“We currently have more than more than 96,741 person samples and 13,178 crime scene samples uploaded to the national DNA database.
“To date, Queensland police have been able to link 11,558 people to crime scenes of all classes, as a result of DNA collection, and 931 crime scene to crime scene links have been made.
“In 2006/07 the Queensland Police Child Safety and Sexual Crimes Group were able to commence 108 new investigations on unsolved rapes from between 1994 to 2006, based on information gathered using new technological and forensic techniques, including DNA collection.
“Mr Messenger’s string of embarrassing gaffes continue to make a mockery of the entire opposition.”
Ms Spence said when this new technology was first introduced, DNA samples were collected from large numbers of prisoners in Correctional Centres, who had gone to prison before the DNA equipment was introduced into police watch houses.
“Since then, the backlog of prisoners’ DNA has been collected, and only minimal numbers of prisoners require testing in prison, as most are conducted by police at a watch house, or if they have been transferred from interstate.
“Before he comes out with these ludicrous and inaccurate statements, he should do some simple research and learn a bit about the processes of police and corrective services in Queensland.”
Media Contact: Nicola Hazell – 0439 673 287
“Mr Messenger has again demonstrated his total lack of understanding of police and corrective services matters, by ignoring the simple fact that the DNA of most of the people in our prisons has already been collected by police, when the offender was first taken to a watch house, before they even entered prison,” Ms Spence said.
“Mr Messenger either doesn’t understand this simple process, or is under the impression that a person’s DNA changes once they enter a prison.
“Mr Messenger would fail to get past even the first round of ‘Are you smarter than a fifth grader’, as he can not understand the simple police processes in place in our watch houses.
“Under the Police Powers and Responsibilities and Other Acts Amendment Bill 2000, anyone arrested by police for an indictable offence can now be required to provide a DNA sample at the police watch house, for cross referencing against historical crimes in the police database.
“We currently have more than more than 96,741 person samples and 13,178 crime scene samples uploaded to the national DNA database.
“To date, Queensland police have been able to link 11,558 people to crime scenes of all classes, as a result of DNA collection, and 931 crime scene to crime scene links have been made.
“In 2006/07 the Queensland Police Child Safety and Sexual Crimes Group were able to commence 108 new investigations on unsolved rapes from between 1994 to 2006, based on information gathered using new technological and forensic techniques, including DNA collection.
“Mr Messenger’s string of embarrassing gaffes continue to make a mockery of the entire opposition.”
Ms Spence said when this new technology was first introduced, DNA samples were collected from large numbers of prisoners in Correctional Centres, who had gone to prison before the DNA equipment was introduced into police watch houses.
“Since then, the backlog of prisoners’ DNA has been collected, and only minimal numbers of prisoners require testing in prison, as most are conducted by police at a watch house, or if they have been transferred from interstate.
“Before he comes out with these ludicrous and inaccurate statements, he should do some simple research and learn a bit about the processes of police and corrective services in Queensland.”
Media Contact: Nicola Hazell – 0439 673 287