Modern police work or invasion of privacy?

NOTE: This article was initially posted in June 2019 and has been updated with new and current information.

The Maryland legislature passed a new law in 2021 that further regulates how law enforcement uses commercial DNA databases to identify suspects. With this new law, Maryland joins Utah and Montana as the only states to limit police use of these databases. In 1994, the Maryland legislature passed the Maryland DNA Collection Act which authorized police to gather DNA evidence for certain criminal investigations. The Act was expanded in 2008 to included more crimes but also limited law enforcement from using State databases to search for relatives of a suspect, or familial matches. Maryland is the only state with such a limitation of state run databases.

Maryland’s new law will take effect in October 2021 and bars law enforcement from using commercial DNA databases to look for familial connections. Law enforcement will be required to exhaust all other avenues of identification and then make application to a judge. Police will also have to obtain consent from a person not suspected of a crime before comparing that person’s DNA to commercial databases. 

 

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In March 2019, Florida police identified a suspect in a 1998 cold case murder after a man submitted his fingerprints for a job application. Law enforcement had submitted unknown fingerprints from the murder scene to a National database. As fingerprints from crime scenes, criminal arrests, clearance, and background checks are submitted to the database they are checked against the fingerprints on file. Matches are then reported back to the submitting police departments.

Fingerprints

As detailed my blog, “National” Record Checks? there is not a national database of criminal records. There is, however, a database of fingerprints that matches to criminal records of individuals.  Maintained by the FBI and begun in 1924, the database contains the world’s largest database of fingerprints and associated criminal history. Up until 1999, the system was based on the manual collection, submission, and examination. Police would ink up a person’s fingers, roll out the prints on a card, and submit the card to the FBI. There, technicians would painstakingly, individually, examine the prints under magnification and check against known crimes or suspects. After which the cards were filed. When the system became digital it was possible to check the submitted prints against the entirety of the database. Unknown prints found at crime scenes could then been matched against previously submitted prints and suspects developed. If you have ever been fingerprinted your prints are stored in the system and checked against other submissions thousands of time a day. 

The Florida case happened that way. In 1998, police submitted latent prints collected from the murder site. For twenty years every fingerprint submitted to the FBI was checked against the 1998 submission. The killer had avoided being fingerprinted for two decades.

Familial DNA

DNA testing was first developed for use in paternity identification.  Police in England first used DNA in a criminal case in 1986. The first DNA conviction in the U.S. came in 1987. As with any new forensic test, court admissibility was tested early on. Over the years DNA identification has been accepted and the process of collecting and identifying made more efficient. What used to take weeks now only takes days.

In 2018, police and the FBI captured a man suspected of being a serial rapist and murderer in a multitude of cases from forty years ago. The case was broken through the use of DNA. The suspect himself was smart enough not to have his DNA logged into any DNA databases. Smart detectives realized that outside of justice system DNA databases there is a plethora of information being collected by private entities. Ancestral research companies provide DNA collection kits, which allow people to submit their DNA for comparison to other samples in hopes of finding family matches. You guessed it. The profiles are stored in databases so that they can be pinged during searches.

Checking crime scene DNA against public sources of DNA, police were able to get a familial match. That match narrowed the pool of suspects down to one family.  This method has been tagged as “genetic genealogy”.  After the familial match, through traditional police work, detectives were able to identify a suspect. 

Genetic genealogy also works to identify the victims of violent crimes. In 2019, Anne Arundel County Police identified the remains of a man who had been discovered in a trashcan during the construction of Marley Station Mall in 1985. Roger Kelso was believed to have been killed in the 1960s and buried in the woods where the mall would eventually be constructed. Police compared the victim’s DNA to samples in public databases to form the familial match. The long cold case is now active.

The same methods were used to identify the remains of a woman and children found buried in barrels in the woods of Allenstown, New Hampshire in 1985. Although law enforcement had long ago associated the victims to serial killer Terry Rasmussen they had never identified the victims. By using genetic genealogy police in 2019 were able to finally identify the victims as Marlyse Honeychurch and her daughters Sarah McWaters and Marie Vaughn.

As you can imagine privacy watchdogs are all over the issue of law enforcement having access to private sector databases.

Genetic privacy

Ancestry and 23andMe are the largest consumer testing providers. Both companies have policies in place that prevents law enforcement from having direct access to the databases. However, customers of both companies, hoping to grow their family tree, can upload their personal results to public databases. This is where law enforcement has access to the DNA results. Ancestral DNA companies are working to find balances. While they do not want to allow complete access to databases for misdemeanor crimes, companies do allow access for violent crimes. As law enforcement finds success they will rely more on these DNA databases.

Opponents of this kind of police work feel that the use of relatives DNA on public databases constitute unwarranted searches and thus illegal under the Fourth Amendment. State legislatures are paying attention as Maryland and a few others have had bills introduced to bar police from using relatives DNA to track criminals.

Fingerprints, DNA, facial, hair, optical, these are all methods of identifying humans as individuals. All were new sciences at one time. All have made their way through the world’s courts as legal ways of making identifications. They are most certainly other scientific discoveries that will be added to the list. The question is and always has been, Where does the privacy of individuals get compromised in the name of justice?

Synopsis of Maryland gun laws

Maryland gun laws 

The Federal government and each state all have different firearm laws. States do not necessarily have reciprocity. What is permitted in your home state may be a felony in another state. Here is a synopsis of Maryland’s firearm laws based on common concerns. 

·     Maryland has been regulating handguns with background checks and requiring a seven-day waiting period since 1966. Firearms designated as “regulated” (handguns and 45 enumerated rifles) require background checks and a waiting period for being transferred. This includes private sales as well.Shotguns and some rifle sales are not regulated by the State and therefore require no State level background check. 

·     Sales and transfers between private citizens and at gun shows are regulated by the State and require a background check and seven-day wait before transferring.

·     Gun buyers must possess a license before purchasing a firearm, which includes a firearm training course

·     One handgun purchase is allowed every thirty days

·     All new handguns manufactured after January 1, 2003 must include an integrated mechanical safety device

·     Red Flag Law-Enables families and law enforcement to ask courts for an order to temporarily restrict firearms from people found to be a risk t themselves or others. 

·     Assault rifles or “AR15” variants are prohibited from sale

·     Bump stocks are banned in Maryland

·     Convicted domestic abusers are required to surrender guns to law enforcement or a firearms dealer. Law enforcement is permitted to remove firearms from the scene of an alleged act of domestic violence

·     Ammunition: If a person is prohibited from possessing firearms they are prohibited from possessing ammunition

·     Child access- A person may not store or leave a loaded firearm in a location where an unsupervised child may gain access

·     Concealed carry is prohibited unless issued a concealed carry permit regulated by the State

·     Transportation- A person may transport a firearm in a vehicle if unloaded and in an enclosed case or enclosed holster-to and from the place of purchase or repair; shooting range; sporting activities; hunting; dog training.

See also:

How to buy a gun in Maryland?

Can you buy an AR15 in Maryland?

ATF’s list of State laws and ordinances

Maryland General Assembly 2019

The 439th session of Maryland's General Assembly is in the books. Not without some somber news as it's longest serving Speaker of the House, Michael Busch, passed away the day before the end of the session. 

Here is a snapshot of business and public safety bills that passed and are awaiting Governor Hogan’s Signature. 

• $15 minimum wage-Although the Governor vetoed the bill there were enough votes to override the veto. The increase to $15 will be incremented as follows.

Businesses with fewer than 15 employees:

$11 on Jan. 1, 2020

$11.60 on Jan. 1, 2021

$12.20 on Jan. 1, 2022

$12.80 on Jan. 1, 2023

$13.40 on Jan. 1, 2024

$14.00 on Jan. 1, 2025

$14.60 on Jan. 1, 2026

$15 on July 1, 2026 

At least 15 employees:

$11 on Jan. 1, 2020

$11.75 on Jan. 1, 2021

$12.50 on Jan. 1, 2022

$13.25 on Jan. 1, 2023

$14 on Jan. 1, 2024

$15 on Jan. 1, 2025

• A Child Care Tax credit was expanded to parents making less than $143,000 (Up from $50,000)
• Health insurance- Those without health insurance will be able to check a box on their tax return allowing the state’s health exchange to determine if they are eligible for free insurance
• Marijuana edibles such as brownies, gummies, etc. can be sold for medical purposes
• The age of smoking was raised to 21
• Maryland will become the first state to ban Styrofoam containers such as cups and food containers.
• The decision of whether to start school before/after Labor Day was returned to local school boards. The Governor vetoed the bill but was overrode.
• Handgun Permit Review Board was eliminated. Now, appeals to the Maryland State Police decision for handgun permits will be heard by an administrative judge.

Public safety bills that failed were background checks on the private (citizen to citizen) sales of shotguns and rifles and a bill to prevent 3D printed guns.

Caller ID and smoke alarms and guns...Oh my! New Maryland laws

Maryland laws passed in the 2018 session are set to go into effect October 1, 2018. Most notably gun control laws and an expansion of the Move Over law. 

Disclosing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

Employers who enforce or attempt to enforce a policy that restricts disclosing sexual harassment shall be liable for the employee’s attorneys fees. Also, on it before July 1, 2020, employers with fifty or more employees must submit a Sexual  Harassment Survey to the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights. 

Caller ID Spoofing Ban
The law prohibits masking caller identification information when contacting an individual in Maryland with the intent to defraud, harass, cause harm to, or wrongfully obtain something of value from another. 

Smoke Alarms

All residences in the state were required to switch over from battery-operated smoke alarms to tamper-resistant detectors. Starting Oct. 1, 2018, the state will begin enforcing the law.

Move Over

The Move Over law expands from emergency vehicles to include transportation, service, and utility vehicles, as well as waste and recycling trucks, with yellow or amber flashing lights or signal devices activated.

Gun

Red flag law enables families and law enforcement to ask courts for an order to temporarily restrict firearms from people found to be a risk to themselves or others.

Bump stocks are banned in the state. The devices increase a semi-automatic rifle's firing rate to a facsimile of automatic fire. 

Convicted domestic abusers are required to surrender guns to law enforcement or a firearms dealer.

“Real” ID

The other day I jumped in a friend’s car for a quick errand. Doing the quick pocket check I noticed that all I had was my cell phone. Oh well, where we were going didn’t require the need for money or identification. If I did need money I could probably use the mobile pay feature. The thought did cross my mind though,  “What if I needed to identify myself to authorities”? Would security officers or the police accept the personal contact card on my phone as my identity?

Without a government issued ID isn’t your phone just like a wallet full of credit, library, reward cards, etc.? Lots of stuff with your name on it but no official identification. For the most part I doubt any police officer would accept information about you on a phone in your possession as a positive ID. They’d probably take it into consideration and just do it old school. Get all of the pertinent details and run a computer check to verify your identity.

Driver’s licenses as ID

When automobiles started roaming the countryside they and their operators were unregistered. In 1901 New York was the first state to require automobiles to be registered. Many states followed suit and required licenses for autos but not the drivers. Massachusetts and Missouri required the first personal U.S. driver’s licenses in 1903. Since that time driver’s licenses have been used not only as an affirmation that the state approved the holder to operate an automobile, but also as a form of personal identification.

Since the U.S. has no national identification cards, the driver’s license has filled that void.

Digital driver’s licenses, to be displayed on phones, are being considered in several states, Maryland being one of those. Security and privacy issues are at the forefront of these considerations. In the Apple v FBI standoff we saw how difficult it is for law enforcement to unlock and/or view information on a persons phone. So until your state adopts a digital driver’s license using your phone to identify yourself probably wouldn’t be taken as official.

Security? Using your phone probably a definite no, as you need a government issued photo ID to get in to facilities and to travel. Airlines accept digital boarding passes when backed by government issued photo DI’s. Even your standard driver’s license is changing. To combat fraud and counterfeits states have been updating licenses and the way they are issued. Although many states took up the license issue themselves, Congress ensured that all states would have to get on board passing the REAL ID Act in 2005.

REAL ID Act

The REAL ID Act set the benchmark for personal forms of identification establishing minimum security standards for driver’s license issuance and production. Further, the act prohibited federal agencies like the TSA from accepting driver’s licenses from states that do not meet the standards. The deadline set by the act is January 22, 2018. After that date residents of all states will need a Real ID Act compliant driver’s license or a passport to pass through airport security.

The act requires that driver’s licenses include all the identification features you would assume but also digital photographs, physical security features that prevent tampering or counterfeiting, and machine readable technology (barcodes/magnetic stripers). As the concept of digital driver’s licenses is being studied, the effective date of the REAL ID Act in 2018 will either extend or quash those studies.

List of REAL ID compliant states can be found on the Department of Homeland Security page, REAL-ID 

While you could probably identify yourself with the contents of your phone it is doubtful you’d get through a serious police encounter. You certainly couldn’t board an airplane. Probably better to add “license” to your pocket checklist.

Read the blog archives for another post about personal identification.

Can I see some ID? February 2014

437th sine die

The 437th session of the Maryland General assembly came to a close on Monday, April 10, 2017. Here are the business related laws that were passed.

Paid sick leave: Businesses with 15 or more employees would be required to provide five days of paid sick leave.

Manufacturing: Tax incentives will be offered to companies that add manufacturing jobs and provide related training for skilled workers.

Health care: A commission was formed to monitor federal actions that affect Maryland health care.

Governor Hogan has said that he will veto the paid sick leave bill. Governor Hogan proposed his own paid sick leave bill that set the employee mark for businesses at 50 and included tax incentives for smaller companies that offered paid sick leave. If the bill is vetoed, the legislature does have the necessary votes to override the veto. However, lawmakers will not have an opportunity to override the veto until next year’s legislative session, delaying the implementation of the bill until 2018.

437th session has more business laws January 2017

Which came first …

Read an interesting article about the Maryland marijuana dispensaries. Seems that it is now legal to grow the marijuana for medicinal resale, but remains Illegal to buy seeds or seedlings to start the growing process.

Maryland passed a law in 2014 decriminalizing smaller amounts of marijuana and allowing for dispensaries to grow and dispense medicinal marijuana. In December 2016 the Maryland Medical Cannabis Commission approved 102 dispensaries that have been granted a license to begin growing marijuana. They have 365 days to begin their operations. The problem for these newly licensed businesses is-How do you start a business based on growing an organic product when it is illegal to buy or import the seeds or seedlings?

Once the grow operations have their crop started that crop and further crops are legal under the law.  However, obtaining the startup seeds is illegal under federal and Maryland law, as well as some other states that have approved medical and/or decriminalized marijuana. In Washington, D.C. for example, it is legal to possess and grow marijuana at home but illegal to buy or sell seeds and plants. Mostly state regulators and law enforcement are turning their heads when it comes to the topic. A don’t ask don’t tell sort of thing.

With all the politics that went into decriminalizing marijuana in Maryland and setting up the laws to allow for dispensaries it seems like someone would have taken this conundrum into consideration. Now that the licenses have been granted and the dispensaries are on the clock it will be interesting to see if this legislative session takes up the issue and corrects the legal blockade.

See our blog archive for other posts relating to medical marijuana:

Medical Marijuana in Workplace May 2013

437th session has more business laws

The 437^th session of the Maryland General assembly convened on January 11, 2017 and will run for the next ninety days. Before the session started two news stories came out in December that will affect Maryland business and, as always, these things tend to hit small business owners in some way.

Governor Hogan, who has been a strong proponent for Maryland business, big and small, announced on December 7, 2016, that he plans on proposing mandatory paid sick leave in his legislative package. Under his proposal, businesses that have at least 50 employees will be required to offer paid sick leave totaling at least 40 hours a year and the ability for employees to roll over a maximum of 40 hours each year. Part-time employees would be covered after a minimum of 30 working hours and seasonal industries would be exempt if workers are employed for less than 120 days in a 12-month period. Small businesses, with less than 50 employees, who offer paid sick leave, would be eligible for tax relief.

During the announcement Governor Hogan said, “While all of us agree that more workers need sick leave in Maryland, it would be irresponsible to put a law on the books that unfairly penalizes our state’s job creators. It is clear that, in order to move forward, we must strike a balance between the needs of Maryland’s employees while not hurting our small businesses and continuing to foster a more business-friendly climate in our state.”

On December 20, 2016, news broke that five retailers who do business in Maryland agreed to end “on call” scheduling. This type of scheduling is not what one would commonly define as being available to be recalled to work. No, this type of on call means that employees must call their employer an hour before a scheduled shift to find out if they are required to work that day. If not, they are not paid for that shift, even though they may have been scheduled or planning to work.  

Aeropostale, Carter's, Disney, PacSun and Zumiez stopped the practice after an inquiry from attorneys general in Maryland, New York, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia. In part, the inquiry stated that unpredictable schedules make it difficult for retail employees to work a second job, pursue an education, or care for family members.

The Maryland gubernatorial election is in 2018 and you can expect the political posturing to start this legislative session. Hang on, because this ride is always bumpy. We’ll see what comes out in April.