The Associated Press
Charlottesville, Virginia (AP) -- The police department’s decision to test the DNA of hundreds of black men in their search for a serial rapist has angered community leaders who view it as racial profiling.
At a forum at the University of Virginia, city leaders, academics and residents criticized the practice during a presentation by city Police Chief Timothy J. Longo and other law enforcement personnel.
“Because the suspect is black, every black man is a suspect,” said University of Virginia graduate student Steven Turner, who has twice refused to be tested. “What are we going to do about this as a community?”
Longo said police question and test men for three reasons: Tips from the public, a potential suspect has a record of sex crimes or burglaries, or a 911 call alerts authorities about a man who resembles the drawing of the rapist.
As of Monday, Longo said, 690 men have been eliminated from the list of possible suspects and 10 have refused to submit to a swab test, in which DNA is collected from a potential suspect’s cheek.
One woman in the audience asked if the police would conduct widespread testing of white men if the rapist were white.
“Absolutely,” Longo said, adding that he’d do the same if a criminal suspect were Asian or a woman. “I will do them all.”
The serial rapist has been linked by forensic evidence to six attacks since February 1997, although Longo estimated that the same man could be responsible for up to 12 more sexual assaults. Two known victims were University of Virginia students and one was a former student.
City officials insisted the investigation was not racial profiling. “We’re looking for one person,” said Dave Chapman, Charlottesville commonwealth’s attorney. “We’re not engaged in profiling.”