DeKalb County is among several Illinois counties to use cheek swabs to file DNA profiles of convicted felons.

The samples are sent to the Illinois State Police and are entered into a database called the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS.

The database is available for reference in future criminal investigations, said Karen Kucharik, assistant director of the DNA indexing laboratory in Springfield.

Former Gov. George Ryan signed a law in August 2002 requiring that convicted felons give a DNA sample, which is entered into the criminal database.

It allows Illinois to link to other states’ databases to potentially solve crimes, said Margie Gilmour, deputy director of DeKalb’s probation office.

Kits are sent to local staff with specific instructions. Upon collection of samples, the kits are mailed back to the lab for analysis, Kucharik said.

At the lab, the samples are analyzed and profiles are entered into the main database.

The Springfield lab is the only lab that receives profiles and enters the information into the database, Kucharik said.

Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Corrections are directly collecting the samples, not the DeKalb police, said Lt. Jim Kayes of the DeKalb Police Department.

DeKalb’s probation office is directly involved in the process, Gilmour said.

Kayes said cheek swabs are convenient and can be completed by police on site, as opposed to drawing blood.

“A blood draw can be quite invasive and uncomfortable as well as expensive, but the cheek swab is quick, easy and much cheaper,” Kayes said.

Ethical and privacy issues may arise from the new mass collection of the samples, Kayes said.

Lawsuits that object to the new process have been unsuccessful, and the database will continue to operate as planned, Kucharik said.