Frustrated with dog owners who refuse to clean up after their pets, an increasing number of apartments in Seattle are opting to use DNA testing to identify the culprits. The Seattle Times reports ( http://bit.ly/1HxGgb2 ) that a company called BioPet Vet Lab from Knoxville, Tennessee, is providing its PooPrints testing kits to 26 apartment and condo complexes and homeowners associations in the region. Erin Atkinson, property manager at Potala Village Apartments in Everett says the messes are all over. "There was poop inside the elevators, in the carpeted hallways, up on the roof," Atkinson said. "They're lazy, I guess." That's why, since February 2014, tenants have been paying a "one-time fee of $29.95 for DNA testing." BioPet says in the past five years, the DNA test has been used in nearly 1,000 places around the country, and it's especially popular in Miami, Dallas, Los Angeles and other large cities. The marketing took a little longer to reach the Northwest, but King-Snohomish-Pierce counties are opportune sites. They are home to about 811,000 dogs. Seattle has 50 percent more dogs than kids, the Times said. One study said the average dog poop weighs one-third of a pound and the dogs in … Continue reading →

DENVER (CBS4) Some state lawmakers are pushing to get more samples from offenders in Colorados DNA database. A bill proposed at the state Capitol would require samples even for some misdemeanors. Two years ago lawmakers tried to pass a bill that would have required police to collect DNA every time they arrested a person for any misdemeanor. That measure failed. This year lawmakers scaled back their proposal to require collection only when a person is convicted of certain misdemeanors. Their DNA would then go into the state database that already houses the DNA of people convicted of misdemeanor sex crimes and felonies. The case of William Costello may be the best argument for expanding the DNA database. He was arrested in July 2014 on felony assault. His DNA was linked to three rape cases. William Costello (credit: Denver DA) Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey said two of those rapes could have been prevented, Had Mr. Costellos DNA gone into the system on a misdemeanor conviction that he had in 2003, two women that we know of, were certain he raped, would not have been raped. Morrissey is one of the nations foremost experts on DNA. He said in Denver alone … Continue reading →