DNA

Convicted

On the 10th of June 2021 i was obligated by forensic law enforcement to give up my DNA, on the basis of being convicted for ”resisting arrest”. They collected my DNA by swabbing the inside of my mouth with a swab stick to then store my DNA in a forensic database ”to help solve crime” more efficiently.

If you object to the storing of your DNA you can make an appeal to the judge to have your DNA material destroyed. One must have an convincing argument for the judge to overrule the decision to store your DNA material (This appeal can only be taken in to consideration after they’ve already taken your DNA material)

How did i get to this point you may ask?

Well long story short…on the 3rd of December 2020 i was riding the bus and tried to buy a bus ticket from the vending machine but it was malfunctioning at the time. The bus supervisors still wanted to write me a €50,- fine for not having a bus ticket. 

They demanded my ID card to which i refused, not agreeing to being fined because of a malfunctioning vending machine. It eventually escalated and they unnecessarily grabbed me (even the prosecution in court admitted that the bus supervisors escalated the situation unnecessarily as seen on video footage). They ended up physically throwing me out of the bus and then calling the police on me saying i was ”resisting arrest”.

I spent up to 6 or more hours at the police station and missed my final school exams that day. Now for the first time in my entire life i received a ”criminal record” as well as 28 hours of community service. All because of some minor incident that took place in the bus.

The mental impact

I’ve been so depressed in the weeks leading up to the moment they were forcibly going to collect my DNA (not showing up would lead to a search party by police, arresting you and forcing you to still give up your DNA – short answer, you have no choice!).

I have not slept well neither ate well, causing me to lose 9 pounds in a few weeks time. My overall personal self care suffered a great deal. I found myself often crying profusely to the point of ending up with a headache and my face soaking wet in tears. My ambitions faded away and feelings of hopelessness and suicide have increased.

How do i feel after they’ve collected my DNA? Well…i can still feel the sensation of the swab stick being rubbed on the inner walls of my mouth, causing my mouth to dry out from the saliva they collected. The memory of how that sensation feels gives me a lump in my throat, in the sense that i get emotional and it makes me want to cry. It literally gave me a nightmare about the police encounter i had.

And to think all of this happened because of a minor incident that took place in the bus. All of which would have never happened if i had my ”student traveling card” (a special card known in Dutch as ”studenten OV”, which rightfully covers the public traveling expenses of Dutch school students as part of their education).

My budgetcoach who is in control of my finances (they are an organization of people who are assigned to me by court law, due to financial struggles and debts) were responsible for making sure i had access to my student traveling card, which they failed to take care of at the time of the bus incident.

I honestly feel so out of place and detached from society. I’ve lost hope in the overall system that tells you their there to help. I’ve lost hope in the possibility of things ever becoming better than what it is now.

-”My depression is cruel and it’s slowly but surely eating away at my DeoxyriboNucleic Acid”-