So we live in a police state, really

Last night my husband and I shared our practically daily ritual, wherein I read the newspaper and pass over to him my cherry-picked version of the news.  We were in complete and utter agreement after reading the DNA collection piece in the Sunday New York TImes.

April 19, New York, New York

Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent.

Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will collect DNA from detained immigrants — the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants.

Law enforcement officials say that expanding the DNA databanks to include legally innocent people will help solve more violent crimes. They point out that DNA has helped convict thousands of criminals and has exonerated more than 200 wrongfully convicted people.

But criminal justice experts cite Fourth Amendment privacy concerns and worry that the nation is becoming a genetic surveillance society.

Let's deal with the notion "why worry if you don't have anything to hide?" Folks, this country has a Constitution, and associated legislation that reinforces the rights spelled out in the Constitution, forged to protect our rights to privacy.  It is privacy that gives us the right to practice the religion of our choice, or no religion, to gather with folks of like-minds, or not, even to make the very private decision of how many children to have.  It also means the police do not have the right to come into your home, or your car, without good reason, whether you have something to hide or not.

In the war against the erosion of your Constitutionally protected freedoms and rights, crimes like DUI often present victories to the forces of oppression that ordinary citizens may unwittingly accommodate.