A 16-year-old double murder in Linköping could be solved in 2020 by the police sending DNA left on the murder weapon to a commercial genealogy database in the USA.
But that method was against the law, according to a statement from the Privacy Protection Agency.
In the biometrics investigation, which was appointed by the previous government in 2021, it is proposed that the procedure should be allowed in the future.
“I propose that DNA-based genealogical research should be able to be used in the preliminary investigation of murder, aggravated rape and aggravated rape against children,” writes special investigator Eric Leijonram on Dagens Nyheter’s debate page.
The investigation also proposes that biometric data should be taken during a preliminary investigation if prison is included in the punishment scale for the suspected crime.
“The proposal is also expected to lead to biometric data being taken up by criminal suspects in more cases today,” writes the investigator.
Another proposal is that information about dead people should be processed in the biometric registers of suspects and convicts ten years after the death.
“In this way, the possibility of solving other crimes that the deceased may have committed increases,” writes Eric Leijonram.