NEWS RELEASE
February
4, 2005
For Immediate Release
DNA BACKLOG MEANS 43 CRIMINALS ON THE LOOSE
“Why does the RCMP Commissioner
think 1,217 unprocessed and
Ottawa – This week, Public Safety Minister
Anne McLellan provided Saskatchewan M.P., Garry Breitkreuz, Conservative
Firearms Critic, with evidence that contradicted claims made by RCMP
Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli when he
testified before the Standing Committee on Justice on November 24, 2004. “I
was floored when I read the government’s reply to my question,” said
Breitkreuz. “The
Commissioner told the Committee there was no DNA case backlog.
Now his own Minister contradicts
his testimony by tabling
documents in the House of Commons showing the RCMP had more than 1,200
unprocessed and unopened DNA service requests six days after RCMP
Commissioner told the Committee there was no backlog.
What is a ‘backlog’ if not ‘unprocessed’ and ‘unopened’
requests?” asked Breitkreuz. “The
police officers are still waiting to see if there’s a DNA match!”
Public
Safety Minister Anne McLellan revealed the real DNA backlog numbers in her
response to Breitkreuz’s written question Q-53.
“She sure didn’t want
the media to find out the truth,” said Breitkreuz.
“Instead of printing the answer in Hansard as they would normally
do with such a short response, they tabled it.
Consequently, it is only available in hard copy from the Journals
Branch. No electronic record
until today on my website.” (see link below)
The numbers released by Minister McLellan also revealed that
the DNA backlog grew by 61 percent over the last year - from 752 at the
end of 2003 to 1,217 by the end of November 2004.
“The reason they are so
embarrassed is that based on their five percent success rate of matching
DNA samples from crime scenes with offenders already in the DNA databank,
there are 43 repeat violent offenders on the loose,” calculated
Breitkreuz.
The success rate for the DNA Data Bank was revealed to the Standing
Committee on Justice this past Monday by the Canadian Professional Police
Association. Executive
Director David Griffin reported, “The
data bank now predicts that 5% of the crime scene profiles entering the
data bank will result in a match with a previous offender’s profile.”
Who
is telling the truth – the Minister or the Commissioner?
Why is the RCMP Commissioner playing politics by trying to convince
Parliamentarians there is no DNA case backlog when so many unprocessed
service requests prove there is? But more importantly, why
are the Liberals pouring more than $100 million a year into the useless
gun registry when two or three million could clear up this DNA case
backlog? This small investment
in a real crime fighting tool could put violent criminals back in jail and
prevent even more crimes that they are likely to commit while they’re on
the loose,” concluded Breitkreuz.
McLELLAN’S RESPONSE TO BREITKREUZ’S
QUESTION Q-53
http://www.cssa-cila.org/garryb/publications/Article529.htm
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