The ceremony was attended, inter alia, by Adam Rapacki, Deputy Minister of Interior and Administration, and chief superintendent Andrzej Matejuk, Police Commander in Chief, and heads of Bureaus of the General Headquarters of Police.
“Poland is the 22nd country which has access to the International DNA Gateway portal,” Andrzej Matejuk, Police Commander in Chief, said during the presentation. “In order to be granted access to the DNA database, Polish Police had to fulfil many requirements and implement appropriate procedures.”
“The liquidation of border controls has created a situation where many crimes are committed by Polish criminals abroad. Moreover, more and more frequently we have to tackle crimes committed by foreigners in Poland. Hence the need for European integration, exchange of information and data,” stated Adam Rapacki, Deputy Minister of Interior and Administration.
Access to the Interpol DNA database is a result of, inter alia, good international relations of the Ministry of Interior and Administration and of a high opinion of Polish Police. The question of granting access to Interpol instruments to Polish police officers was a key topic of talks held by Deputy Minister Adam Rapacki at the European seat of the organisation in Lyon in April 2008.
Adam Rapacki, Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Interior and Administration, and chief superintendent Andrzej Matejuk, Police Commander in Chief, met with Secretary General Ronald K. Noble. at the seat of Interpol in Lyon. The topics discussed included the plans to grant access to Interpol police instruments beyond the National Central Bureau (NCB) of the organisation in Warsaw. This would enable the so-called “front-line” police officers across the country to use the international databases.
Between April and June 2008 the General Headquarters of Police worked on adjusting the technical infrastructure and preparing organisational and legal solutions to enable Polish Police to get on-line access to Interpol’s DNA database while maintaining the security of data transfer.
In July 2008, the DNA Database maintained by the Central Forensic Laboratory of the General Headquarters of Police acquired adequate technical conditions to exchange information with the Interpol DNA Database. The standards of genetic profiles marked for the use of the Polish database comply with standards required by the Interpol (ESS/ISSOL). All the essential national and international certificates (ISO 9001, ISO 17025, GEDNAP) were obtained in order for the genetic examinations carried out at the Central Forensic Laboratory of the General Headquarters of Police to comply with quality standards. Data processing in the DNA Database is performed on the basis of an implemented and strictly observed security policy. The Communication and Information Technology Bureau of the General Headquarters of Police has launched a connection with the Interpol DNA Database through an I 24/7 connection (using an encrypted SDH network). The Legal Bureau and the Classified Information Protection Bureau of the GHP issued opinions on the lack of legal barriers concerning the exchange of DNA data, from the point of view of the law of criminal procedure as well as the Act on the Police and the Act on the Protection of Personal Data. Thus, Polish Police complied with all the requirements necessary to sign an agreement with Interpol concerning the exchange of DNA data.
On 14 July 2008, chief superintendent Andrzej Matejuk, the Police Commander in Chief, signed a document entitled DNA Charter, which enables Polish Police to have free on-line access to the Interpol DNA profiles database through an application called International DNA Gateway. The DNA Charter constitutes a legal basis for the specialised data transfer.
The Interpol DNA Database was established in 2003 in order to enable member states (186 at present) to exchange information concerning DNA profiles obtained in these countries by way of criminal proceedings. It is a central database administered by Interpol’s General Secretariat from its seat in Lyon, France. It comprises the so-called DNA Search Requests, submitted to the Interpol from Interpol National Central Bureaus. Search Requests consist of the genetic profile in alphanumeric notation (a sequence of digits) and information on the nature of the event. The exchange of data takes place through the comparison of the sent DNA profiles with the profiles submitted as Search Requests from other countries. The comparisons may concern both unidentified DNA profiles obtained from traces left at crime scenes, and identified profiles of particular persons (suspects, convicts). In this manner, it is possible to logically match unidentified profiles which appear in crime scenes in several countries, and even to assign them the identity of a particular perpetrator, who might have been identified previously in one of the events.
The following genetic profiles are gathered and processed in the DNA Database:
- profiles of persons referred to in Articles 74 and 192a of the Code of Criminal Procedure, i.e. defendants, suspects, persons suspected and other persons for whom there were no grounds to remove from the files of the case and destroy the genetic evidence taken from them or recorded earlier,
- profiles of persons whose identity has not been established and of persons who try to conceal their identity,
- profiles of human corpses with identity not established,
- profiles of the traces of unknown crime perpetrators, such as traces found at a crime scene when it is impossible to ascribe them to a particular person.
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