By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR
Published: 19:18 BST, 6 August 2026 | Updated: 20:43 BST, 6 August 2026
A seemingly harmless drink of water inside a police interrogation room could surrender the most intimate blueprint of your body.
Civil liberties groups have issued an urgent warning over a tactic allegedly used by officers to collect DNA without obtaining a warrant or asking permission.
The warning emerged in a federal court battle over New York City's 'Suspect Index,' a DNA database containing more than 34,000 searchable profiles.
The index allegedly includes children, people never charged with crimes and individuals who were acquitted, exonerated or explicitly ruled out as suspects.
According to court filings, officers allegedly bring people into specially prepared interview rooms and encourage them to drink from a cup, bottle or straw, or offer them a cigarette, before retrieving the discarded item for DNA.
Plaintiff Shakira Leslie claims detectives obtained her genetic material from a cup after holding her for approximately seven hours and repeatedly encouraging her to drink.
The American Civil Liberties Union, New York Civil Liberties Union and Cato Institute argue that extracting and storing this DNA without a warrant amounts to an unreasonable search and that the city had no authority under New York law to create the separate index.
Their warning reaches beyond New York because every American constantly leaves DNA containing intensely private information on drinking glasses, tissues, cigarette butts and virtually everything they touch.
Civil liberties groups have issued an urgent warning over a tactic allegedly used by officers to collect DNA without obtaining a warrant or asking permission
The NYC Law Department and Office of Chief Medical Examiner declined to provide comment. The Daily Mail has also reached out to the New York Police Department (NYPD).
A spokesman for the NYPD, Sgt Edward Riley, said in a previous statement about the lawsuit that DNA collection is among the best practices of law enforcement.
The three organizations filed a supporting brief of Leslie with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on July 30, asking it to reverse a March 2026 ruling from the Southern District of New York.
The federal district court ruled against Leslie after accepting the city’s argument that she had abandoned any privacy interest in the DNA left on the cup.
