NEW YORK, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Police across the nation are coming up with clever, tricky ways to obtain DNA samples from suspects without court orders, it was reported Thursday.
There was the New Jersey construction worker who complied with the request from a law firm to join a lawsuit aimed at recovering traffic fine overcharges. The law firm, it turned out, was a phony. The letter was sent by Seattle -- not to get his signature but his DNA, which he supplied when he licked the envelope. He's now awaiting trial for murder.
DNA hunters, USA Today reported, have set up a phony dating service in Boston and impersonated a public health worker in New York City, a rape counselor in Iowa City, a Taco Bell worker in Brea, Calif., and a diner at a Wendy's restaurant in Upstate New York. Police in at least a dozen other U.S. cities and in Toronto have rummaged through garbage cans and other refuse in their quest.
