"Community members hurled accusations at Charlottesville police Monday night over a DNA testing policy some claim is racist.

“Because the suspect is black, every black man is a suspect,” said University of Virginia graduate student Steven Turner, who has refused to be tested twice. “What are we going to do about this as a community?”

City police have been DNA testing black men in their search for a serial rapist who has assaulted six women since 1997. The practice was the topic of the UVa forum, but the event dredged up some old racial issues.

“They’ve been harassed,” said M. Rick Turner, dean of UVa’s Office of African-American Affairs, of the men who have been tested. “They’ve been intimidated. This is bordering on violating someone’s civil rights” and is “tantamount to tactics used in slavery.”

The audience, sprinkled with city leaders, academics and residents of Charlottesville, interrupted a presentation by city Police Chief Timothy J. Longo and other law enforcement personnel several times with questions.

Longo made his argument with a combination of statistics and emotion. As of Monday, he said, 690 men have been eliminated from the list of possible suspects. Approximately 400 were crossed off because their DNA is already in the statewide database.

Of the remaining 290 men, 197 were asked for a DNA sample obtained by a cheek swab. Ten men refused, Longo said. Only 15 in the group of 290 are associated with UVa.

“I’m not a black man,” Longo said. “I haven’t stood in Steven Turner’s shoes. I don’t pretend to.”

But, the chief added, “We’ve done everything from an investigative strategy that we know how to do.”

Most audience questions centered on a policy some see as racial profiling and others see as thorough police work.

“We’re looking for one person,” said Dave Chapman, Charlottesville commonwealth’s attorney. “We’re not engaged in profiling.”

One woman in the audience, however, asked if the police would undergo widespread testing of white men if the rapist were white.

“Absolutely,” Longo said, adding that he’d do the same if a criminal suspect were Asian or a woman. “I will do them all.”

Raymond Mason, a city resident, peppered Longo with questions about the preservation of DNA evidence, even after a man has been eliminated from the potential suspect list in the rapist case.

Two men have asked for their samples back and have had them returned, but it required permission from Chapman.

If evidence is destroyed early, Chapman added, the accused rapist could argue later that it is exculpatory. “That is sound practice.”

But Longo conceded that his officers have not notified men who were tested that they could ask for their DNA sample to be returned. “You’re asking me to evaluate the process.”

Both Dean Turner and Longo said they’d like to continue the discussion of the issue in future forums." (Kate Andrews, The Daily Progress, April 13, 2004)

Contact Kate Andrews at (434) 978-7261 or kandrews@dailyprogress.com.