The Collins Police Department in conjunction with the Mississippi Forensics Laboratory hosted a DNA class at the Collins Train Depot. The class which was a mandatory training class for police officers was designed to teach officers how to collect DNA from suspects arrested for committing a violent crime.
Under Senate Bill 2430 “Katie’s Law,” every person 18 years of age or older who is arrested for committing or attempting to commit a violent crime must provide a DNA sample at the time of the arrest.
The samples will be provided for analysis to the Mississippi Crime Lab.
“The training provided by the crime lab will help officers learn how to collect the sample,” said Collins Police Chief Joey Ponder.
While the law says that a sample will be collected, Ponder said the training will be beneficial because his officers will most likely come in contact with people who do not want to comply.
“The law says, ‘You shall collect DNA,’” said Ponder. “There’s no doubt that we have to collect the sample. That is sometimes hard to do when you arrest a suspect who does not want to comply. That’s why this class was helpful to our officers.”
Other agencies also attended the class. They included Smith County, Covington and Jones Counties.
The session was led by Deedra Hughes, DNA Technical Leader.
