Moving towards using DNA technology to combat crime

It might sound surreal, but Malawi is moving towards using DNA technology to combat crime such that preparations are underway to set up a first ever DNA forensics laboratory at Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (Luanar).

Assistant Commissioner of Police Tiyese Chiumbuzo and scientist Dr. Kingdom Kwapata of Luanar are optimistic about the initiative. They have already submitted a budget of  $1 682 647 (about K500 million) to government for a three-year project.

Chiumbuzo says crime investigations are becoming more complicated and fighting it requires to be a step ahead.

“Traditional methods of investigation are facing many challenges because of relying on witnesses only as a source of evidence and they at times fail to satisfy courts with their oral evidence,” he adds.

“In the Sadc region, it is only Malawi which is not using DNA to support its investigation. Crimes such as defilement, rape, murder and assaults can easily be solved if DNA is used to connect and identify suspects or victims. On the other hand, paternity cases can also be solved using the DNA,” Chiumbuzo explains.

He disclosed that some cases of defilement have of late been thrown out of the courts because of lack of evidence which, would not have happened if DNA technology were employed.

The police have a fingerprinting technology in crime investigation.

“However, DNA has an advantage over the fingerprints because it can be collected from a wider range of sources and exists in different biological substances such as different body tissues and body fluids.”

When two or more items are in contact, there is transfer of material between them. For example, in a rape or defilement case, there will be transfer of body fluids between the suspect and the victim.

By collecting the clothes the victim wore at the time of crime, traces of such fluids can be collected and subjected to DNA analysis to identify its source.

Even where a man is denying paternity of a child, the technology will help settle the matter with precision.

Currently, there are local institutions with the capacity to analyse DNA. He gave an example of Molecular Biology and Ecology Research Unit at Chancellor College, University of Malawi and Luanar.

What it will take

Police officers will have to be trained in collection of samples to be submitted for DNA analysis to support crime investigations. Currently, the police rely only on fingerprints and witnesses to make identification.

“The challenge comes in when these two sources are not available thereby compromising the quality of investigations. With DNA the police will have a wide range of physical evidence to be used in crime investigations,” says Chiumbuzo.

The officer also indicated that the police realise the need to be at par with other countries, thereby improving the regional and global security. Interpol, which is the international police, uses DNA database to track and identify international criminals and it is urging countries to utilise the same.

Currently, the country has a few specialists with expertise in DNA database. One such specialist is Kwapata who has a PhD in molecular genetics from Michigan State University in the US.

“We will train more molecular geneticists to handle this process, starting with our local universities and afterwards train more personnel who will head regional DNA forensics laboratories,” Kwapata said.

He says the country has DNA laboratories but one that is specialised in forensics detection will be the first of its kind.

“The other DNA laboratories would probably just handle basic materials such as plants, animals and so on, but this one will be a specialised lab to do DNA forensics analysis, that is where the major difference is.”

The police and the university will collaborate.

“It’s common practice worldwide,” says Kwapata.

Setting up such a laboratory is not expensive for the country if the potential benefits are to be considered. Kwapata gives an example of a rape case.

“DNA is the only physical evidence that would actually link a person to a victim of such a case,” he added.

DNA speaks the truth, it is accurate and the margin of error is one in nine billion. Even in parental disputes, the DNA test will take just about 24 hours and the matter will be settled.

It will also help in fighting against deliberate transmission of HIV virus because the experts will be able to trace the source of the virus.

In addition, the technology could help other institutions such as Wildlife and Parks to trace the source of meat suspected to have been poached. It can even help settle rumours of butchers suspected to be selling dog or human meat.

“Quality control of such meat products will be assured for human health. That way, people are helped. So, this is not a project that will benefit the police only but also the general public,” adds Kwapata.

Need for laws

Setting up of such a laboratory will require the country to have laws to support it.

“This is something that we need to look at—to see how our legal instruments are going to operate. It is important to look at legal measures as to how that DNA is handled because in other countries, you can do the analysis and confirm but if you did not do it legally, that evidence is trashed,” Kwapata warned.

But the first thing is to have the laboratory up and running, which can be manned by a small team of three people.

“The laboratories do not need a large workforce because the equipment does the sophisticated work and the amount of work determines the required workers,” he says.

Luanar is geared to start some tests this year with a goal of having paternity testing services by end of this year.

The envisaged challenge in this project is that it is an expensive technology which requires proper maintenance of equipment and upgrading of human equipment.

“That will be, in my opinion, the greatest challenge,” says Kwapata.