DNA Samples
I kinda got a problem with this story from the Cavalier Daily. The police are asking for DNA samples from people who fit the description of a local serial rapist so that they can then exclude them from their database of suspects:

In its continuing effort to catch the serial rapist, the Charlottesville Police Department is utilizing a database of contacts -- primarily black men -- to eliminate potential suspects.

"The description given by the victims of the serial rapist is of an African-American male, so the database specific to this investigation is full of contacts that are African-American males," Police Chief Tim Longo said.

The department has asked some of these contacts to voluntarily consent to a DNA test -- also called a buccal swab test -- in order to eliminate their names from the database.

Graduate Education student Steven Turner recently criticized the investigation method as a violation of privacy in an article he submitted to "The Hook," a weekly Charlottesville newsmagazine.

The Charlottesville police asked Steven Turner for a DNA sample in August and again March 18.

"The Charlottesville police department has created a list of young black men who have not submitted to the DNA test and has instituted a disturbing tactic of home visits to those men with buccal kits in tow, as if they were selling benign door-to-door."

Of course it is voluntary, but when the police come a-knockin' at your door with a q-tip in hand, its kind of hard to say no, because that only makes you more of a suspect. I understand that the police are just trying to whittle down their suspect list into something more manageable, but this door to door thing isn't the way to do it.