WRAL-TV reports that Roy Cooper told a meeting in Chicago on Wednesday that collecting DNA samples from people who get arrested helps authorities identify suspects more quickly and keeps the community safer.

 

Cooper was speaking at a gathering hosted by DNA Saves. The advocacy group pushes states to pass laws like the one in North Carolina, where people arrested for crimes like murder and rape are required to submit to DNA collection by cheek swab.

 

Twenty-five other states have passed such laws.

 

Cooper says states much also invest in resources and staff to keep the testing going.

 

Civil rights activists, including the North Carolina chapter of the ACLU, have expressed concerns about the law since it takes DNA from people who have not yet been convicted of a crime. They say that amounts to unreasonable search and seizure.

 

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Additional information from SGRToday.com