The Missouri Senate advanced a provision to a bill last week that would let police take deoxyribonucleic acid samples, also known as DNA, from robbery suspects.

Police are already required by Missouri law to collect DNA samples from adults arrested for burglary, sex offenses and other violent crimes.

“A new state law came into effect last fall that requires us to collect it,” said Capt. Kevin Castle of the St. Joseph Police Department. “However, if it’s found out later that for some reason these persons weren’t responsible for it, their records are expunged.”

If a suspect is found to be innocent, the police have to send an e-mail or a letter to the state in order to have the DNA erased from their records.

Collecting DNA samples will allow the state to build up databases for future cases. “It doesn’t solve the crime, but it does give us a starting point to start looking at people,” Mr. Castle said.

The bill also would limit the amount of time that can lapse before a person is charged with a crime using DNA evidence. The statute of limitations would begin once DNA collected from a crime scene is matched with a known profile.

The provisions to the bill would not affect the St. Joseph Police Department to a great degree, Mr. Castle said.

“It’s just adding another class of crimes that we would be required to collect,” he added.

Nadia Thacker can be reached at nadia.thacker@npgco.com.