Omaha DNA Controversy Continues -Police defend Racist Tactics

July 2, 2004 Tron Nick

Police defend SWEEP - Round up of Black Men -Racist Tactics

State Senator says money motivated the tests

The controversy continues to simmer over the police department's DNA testing of some African American employees of the Omaha Public Power District. Omaha Senator Ernie Chambers, City Councilman Frank Brown and a small band of supporters picketed outside the Douglas County Courthouse Thursday morning to draw attention to the issue. Chambers claims that money was the motive for the tests. The senator says that the police department received a federal grant for DNA testing that would have been lost at the end of the year had it not been used. [more] and [more]

Police went to the homes of 36 men, between the ages of 20 and 40, and asked for DNA samples via mouth swabs. Police said the DNA tests were needed to aid in the investigation of four rapes over the last two years. The perpetrator was described as "black, 25 to 40 years old, 5-foot-3 to 5-foot-9 inches tall, stocky with a large stomach and weighing 175 to 250 pounds.