Omaha DNA Controversy Continues -Police defend Racist Tactics
Friday, July 2, 2004 at 11:58AM
TheSpook
Police defend SWEEP - Round up of Black Men -Racist Tactics
State Senator says money motivated the tests
The controversy continues to simmer over the police department's DNA
testing of some African American employees of the Omaha Public Power
District. Omaha Senator Ernie Chambers, City Councilman Frank Brown and
a small band of supporters picketed outside the Douglas County
Courthouse Thursday morning to draw attention to the issue. Chambers
claims that money was the motive for the tests. The senator says that
the police department received a federal grant for DNA testing that
would have been lost at the end of the year had it not been used. [more] and [more]
Police
went to the homes of 36 men, between the ages of 20 and 40, and asked
for DNA samples via mouth swabs. Police
said the DNA tests were needed to aid in the investigation of four
rapes over the last two years. The perpetrator was described as
"black, 25 to 40 years old, 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-9 inches tall, stocky
with a large stomach and weighing 175 to 250 pounds.
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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