17. April 08
The Estonian Forensic Science Institute and the Estonian and Latvian police signed an agreement concerning the exchange of DNA data in order to identify the persons who have committed a crime in the other country.
The Director of the Estonian Forensic Science Institute, Üllar Lanno, said that the opening of the borders after Estonia joined the Schengen Visa Zone has made some criminals give a sigh of relief as they did not imagine that their actions could be traced. “The Finnish experience has proved that the comparison of DNA samples is an efficient method for the discovery of crime. I believe that such exchange of data with Latvia will be equally successful,” Lanno stated.
The sending of DNA profiles from Estonia to Finland resulted in 25 findings in the Finnish DNA register. Thus 25 crimes committed in Estonia may be solved with the help of the personal data entered into the Finnish DNA register. 13 crimes committed in Finland found a match in the data on 11 persons entered into the Estonian DNA register. In addition, one person whose data has been entered into the Estonian register is associated with several crimes committed in Finland. If we manage to sign data exchange agreements with other European countries as well, we may witness the surge very surprising information. Our next step is to make a cooperation proposal to Spain, Sweden and Lithuania– these are the countries in which Estonian criminals are also active," added Üllar Lanno.
“Detection of crime now that we have joined the Schengen visa zone can only be effective if we cooperate with other countries. The more partners we have, the more successful we are in our fight against the world of crime," Director-General of the Police Raivo Aeg said. The exchange of DNA profiles between Finland and Estonia has given positive results and certainly our cooperation with Latvia will also be effective,” Raivo Aeg added. Estonia had signed an agreement concerning the joint use of the data contained in the DNA register with Finland.
