Forensic science: Operation Tigerlily (Essay Sample)

Forensic science: Operation Tigerlily
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1. Gold bullion
Gold bullion simply refers to gold that is still in bulk. It can be packed in either bars or coins. The value of the bars or coins is measured by its purity and quality to get its monetary value. Gold bullion is always in its purest form and, thus, is the best type of gold for any gold investor to buy. It is highly valuable and brings hefty profits upon selling.[T. A. Brown, Gene cloning and DNA analysis: an introduction. (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010), 15.]
2. Foot soldiers
Foot soldiers are soldiers who engage in fights on foot. They are also called infantry troopers. Their duty is to always undertake necessary mundane assignments in the field. However, in relative semantics, it can refer to a person who shows enormous but unglamorous determination and effort in fighting for a particular movement or cause.[ibid]
3. Swissport warehouse
Swissport warehouses are warehouses around the world that are owned by Swiss Cargo services, a company that traditionally deals with handling of cargo in the aviation industry. However, the introduction of these warehouses was for the sole aim of handling airfreight in airports, especially perishable goods. These warehouses ensure that the goods are kept in good condition and they are distributed through the rightful channels to the different destinations.
4. S.16 firearm acts
Section 16 firearm acts are constitutional acts in the United Kingdom that prohibit the citizens to possess firearms and ammunitions illegally. The acts also stipulates that a person should never be in possession of an imitation firearm for the purposes of threatening people and causing violence.[David J. Balding, Weight-of-Evidence for Forensic DNA Profiles (Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. 2005), 17.]
5. Q.C
Quality Control (Q.C) refers to the coverage of all numerous activities that are done in the fulfillment of quality requirements of a particular service or product. In forensic science, it can entail the demand for running control samples when processing a DNA analysis. Similarly, it can involve keeping records of the exact process that was undertaken in a hair sample microscopic examination.[Molly Fitzgerald-Hayes and Reichsman Frieda, DNA and Biotechnology the Awesome Skill (Burlington: Elsevier, 2009), 33.]
6. Qualifying Offense
This refers to those offenses associated with a person providing a sample for DNA testing as required when arrested, convicted by the law or if the individual is found guilty of a crime done.[John M. Butler, Forensic DNA typing biology, technology, and genetics of STR markers (Amsterdam: Elsevier Academic Press, 2005), 23.]
A DNA profile also known as “DNA identification profile” or “DNA fingerprint” refers to a set of encrypted letters that possess the DNA contents of a person. It contains a representation that is in numerical form of thirteen specific “loci” or points on an individual's “debris” DNA that is inactive. It is usually developed by a criminal laboratory for the sole aim of solving crimes. This profile enables law enforcers to make a comparison of different crime scenes. The “loci” also necessitates the process of identifying individuals who were involved in crimes in the past, and had their samples taken. It is virtually akin to the fingerprint type of person identification when investigating criminals. A DNA profile is developed from a biological material of a specific person such as skin, cells, saliva or semen as samples.[ibid]
The thirteen “loci” always vary from an individual to a person. This means that a person can only be identified as a criminal if the existing DNA profile in the criminal books matches another profile with similar “loci” composition.[ibid]
The DNA profiles only identify a person through the representations from the “loci”, but they do not reflect a person's traits. It only contains 26 numbers and catalogues, which only amount to a minute fraction of the contents in a person's DNA. The criminal laboratories use the DNA profile for the purposes of person identification, but not cases of physical appearance, mental or disease-vulnerability chances.[Isabelle Denervaud and Chatin Olivier, DNA profiling: the innovative company ; how to increase creative ability in business (Paris : London: Pearson Education France ; Pearson Education], 2011), 37.]
National DNA Database is a database that stores DNA profiles of all people. The only people who can access the National DNA Database are the police, and other specific people who help with criminal investigations in the government. Other people are exempted from accessing the database for security reasons. It is dangerous to allow everyone to have access to the database as that is likely to make the DNA profiles vulnerable to manipulation. Consequently, the procedure of criminal investigation using the DNA samples will be blighted and may corrode the whole process. Based on this, the police and other specific security stakeholders in the government are the only people who have access to the database . Thise who have access include only those responsible for criminal investigations. The police use the DNA profiles to prosecute those who are found guilty of crimes, and whose identities have been revealed through the same.[ibid] [ibid]
The National DNA Database (NDNAD) contains important details of people. The first one is the “Subject DNA profiles”. These profiles are samples taken from individuals who have committed offenses that are recordable or voluntary provisions to eliminate some people from a criminal investigation. Recordable offenses are those that are punishable by prison sentences. The second content in the (NDNAD) is the “Crime scene profiles”. These samples are collected as cellular materials from crime scenes in the form of semen, saliva or hair. They might be from a criminal, or a proponent of a crime. The third content includes appearance, gender and age information. These are recorded in the form of DNA profiles in the NDNAD. The appearance, gender and age of a person are recorded in the database when the pconcerned persons provide their DNA samples. The information is recorded in the sampling kit, where police officers use to identify a person's ethnicity, gender or age. The last component of the National DNA Database (NDNAD) is the Missing Persons DNA Database. NDNAD keeps this database containing belongings of missing people, as well as DNA profiles of body parts from unidentified persons.[Jeremiah E. Goulka, Toward a comparison of DNA profiling and databases in the United States and England (Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 2010), 28.] [ibid]
The DNA profiles are stored permanently in the National DNA Database, implying that there is no time-limit for their storage. This is because the information provided by the same helps the police force in a perpetual process of investigation until a criminal who violated a particular law is convicted. However, in case a person is cleared of any criminal charges and their DNA profile is in the NDNAD, he or she can request the police authority to delete his or her name from the database.
Age cannot affect the DNA profiles stored in the National DNA Database since the components of the samples are not susceptible to mutation over time. This means that a criminal can be sought after for a very long period and get caught since his or her DNA will never change despite aging. On the other hand, conviction affects the DNA profiles in the DNA Database, as it reduces the number of available suspects in the database. This means that the police have an easier time to search for other criminals and match their DNA profiles with the ones in the database because of the decongestion of convicted criminals.[Sheldon Krimsky and Simoncelli Tania, Genetic justice: DNA data banks, criminal investigations, and civil liberties (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011), 47.]
Despite the numerous benefits that DNA profiling has brought, there are also human rights that it infringes. Firstly, many innocent people have their DNA profil...