Sun Xueling on Registration of Criminals (Amendment) Bill

Police will have more powers to collect and use DNA data to better solve crimes under the Registration of Criminals (Amendment) Bill. They can collect blood samples from more crime suspects in order to expand their DNA database. It will be a crime for suspects to refuse to provide blood samples to the police without a reasonable excuse. These proposed changes will enable the authorities to compare DNA recovered from a crime scene to a larger database, making this a more effective tool in crime investigations. Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling, who outlined the key proposals in Parliament on Monday (Sep 12), said DNA profiling is one tool to ensure that Singapore has cutting-edge capabilities to fight crime and that police have access to useful tools to detect and solve crime. In 2021, the number of matches to DNA profiles derived from crime scene samples was about 800. However, approximately 60 per cent of the crime scene samples collected between 2017 and 2021 were unmatched when screened against those in the DNA database of the police. The Bill will expand the police’s DNA database to bolster their ability to solve crimes, she said. The bigger the database, the higher the chance of matching and cracking the case, she said. It will enable law enforcement agencies to carry out their duties more effectively to ensure the safety and security of Singapore while balancing the expanded powers against the individual's right to privacy, she said.