News release

DNA Deal Supports Public Safety

Justice

Putting more criminals behind bars is the goal of a one-time provincial payment of $117,051 to the RCMP on behalf of Nova Scotia's 55 municipalities. The funding will encourage even greater use of the national DNA crime scene index in criminal investigations.

"This is an important public safety measure," said Justice Minister Michael Baker. "DNA testing helps put violent criminals behind bars, and ensures that innocent people are removed as possible suspects. Our financial support this year will promote even greater use of the best possible technology to solve outstanding cases. It will also help municipal police agencies budget for the future costs of crime investigations."

A new federal-provincial agreement means municipal police agencies will no longer have to pay for DNA tests on a case by case basis. They will pay a flat fee to the RCMP each year for the service, based on their total uniform assessment. It's a formula endorsed by the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities (UNSM).

"It is very encouraging to see provincial monies being dedicated to front-line policing efforts. This funding will allow us to use DNA testing more extensively for a wide variety of crimes, budget effectively to undertake complex criminal investigations and continue providing our citizens with safe communities," said Chief Frank Beazley of Halifax Regional Police.

"The RCMP is happy that this move by the province will see the DNA crime scene index become universally affordable to all policing agencies in Nova Scotia," said assistant commissioner Ian Atkins, commanding officer for the RCMP in Nova Scotia.

The provincial government's one-time contribution will be used to pay up to $1,000 of a municipality's DNA costs, or 50 per cent, whichever is greater. This means 24 smaller municipalities will pay nothing in 2004-05, another 11 will pay less than half their annual bill.

Larger centres will also benefit from paying an annual flat fee. The province and Halifax Regional Municipality, for example, will split $103,012 in costs in 2004-05. In Cape Breton Regional Municipality, the two levels of government will share the $15,465 costs for DNA tests.

"I want to thank members of the UNSM's policing services advisory committee for their support and guidance," said Mr. Baker. "Public safety initiatives in Nova Scotia can only benefit from this kind of collaboration."