Police officers engaged in a massive NSW-wide program to identify over 750 missing persons, some missing for more than 80 years, will arrive in Queanbeyan on Friday aiming to build on their database.
A pop-up collection centre will be set up for the day at the Axis Youth centre, on the corner of Campbell and Park streets in Queanbeyan. The officer in charge of the program, Detective Inspector Glen Browne is encouraging people to participate.
"In many cases there are stories within families; there is an uncle, or an aunt or a family member that went missing quite some time ago and we're trying to encourage those family members to come forward and participate so we can perhaps provide some answers," Inspector Browne said.
"Essentially what we're trying to do is collect familial DNA that could potentially provide that important family link and give us a lead on a case that has been unresolved for years.
"We have about 330 unidentified bodies and human remains so what we're trying to do is find links between long-term missing persons cases and unidentified bodies and human remains cases."
He said that changes in police processes mean that now, the procedure is to directly collect the DNA of a missing person - either through seizing a hairbrush or toothbrush - which goes into the databases.
"But for a lot of our older missing persons cases, we don't have a direct DNA profile," he said.
"Historically we didn't seize things like toothbrushes or hairbrushes back in the 1940s, 50s, 60, 70s or even the 80s because DNA technology didn't exist; it was something we didn't use in law enforcement.
"So now, the only way we can find a link to these older term missing persons is through familial DNA to find biologically related family members."
He said that while this was a NSW program, the missing persons issue was a national one which had no defined jurisdictional borders and once the NSW database is searched, the information is then shared nationally.
After starting in 2020 and going into hiatus during the COVID pandemic lockdowns, the collection program has travelled throughout northern and western NSW and is now in its penultimate phase with pop-up collection centres across southern NSW including Albury, Griffith, Wagga Wagga and Queanbeyan. The Sydney regional area will be the final focus during National Missing Person's Week in early August.
Inspector Browne said that in some cases, people visit the pop-up centres and provide details of missing persons that are not even on the police records "and we have to start the investigative process from square one".
The familial DNA sampling process usually requires a simple interview to provide details, followed by a oral buccal swab sample that is sealed and sent off to the laboratory.
Inspector Browne was also keen to scotch any suggestion that police could use that DNA information for any other law enforcement purpose.
"Legally, we can't do anything with these DNA profiles other than put them into a very specific index, not only within the NSW database, but the national database," he said.
"You can only use the DNA samples obtained via this program to try and look for links with unidentified bodies and human remains. Legally, we can't put them into indexes where potentially they could be matched against crime samples.
"We simply are not allowed to do it."
