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Why Is IGG So Important?

Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG) is increasingly necessary as a standard tool for UK police when investigating serious violent crime, particularly murder and rape, because it fills critical gaps left by traditional policing and forensic methods. Here’s a structured UK-specific rationale.

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IGG Solves Cases Traditional DNA Cannot

The core limitation today

  • Standard UK DNA profiling relies on matches within the National DNA Database (NDNAD).

  • If an offender has never been arrested, cautioned, or convicted, their DNA will not be on the database.

  • In cold cases and stranger attacks, this is very common.
     

What IGG adds

  • IGG can identify relatives of an unknown offender, even distant ones (e.g. 2nd–4th cousins).

  • This allows police to build family trees and narrow suspects logically and lawfully, rather than waiting indefinitely for a database hit.
     

IGG converts “no suspect” cases into solvable investigations.

Disproportionate Benefit for the Most Serious Crimes

IGG is not needed for routine crime, but it is uniquely suited to:

  • Murder

  • Stranger rape and serial sexual offences

  • Unidentified human remains

  • Long-running cold cases with retained DNA

 

These crimes:

  • Cause the greatest harm

  • Demand the highest investigative duty

  • Often justify exceptional tools under UK policing principles
     

Using IGG only for serious violent crime aligns with necessity and proportionality, core UK legal tests.

Cold Cases Are a Moral and Public Safety Issue

Why cold cases matter
 

  • Victims’ families remain without justice for decades.

  • Offenders may continue to offend.

  • Public confidence erodes when murders remain unsolved despite scientific advances.

IGG’s proven impact (internationally)

  • Thousands of cold cases solved worldwide where:

    • DNA existed

    • No database match was possible

  • Many offenders were never previously known to police
     

Failing to use IGG when viable evidence exists increasingly looks like an avoidable investigative omission, not a limitation of science.

IGG Is Cost-Effective Compared to Long Investigations

While IGG has upfront costs, it often:

  • Reduces years of detective time

  • Prevents repeated cold-case reviews

  • Avoids wide, unfocused enquiries
     

When compared with:

  • Multi-year cold case reviews

  • Repeated forensic re-testing

  • Large investigative teams
     

IGG can actually lower total lifetime case cost, especially when it quickly identifies or excludes suspects.

IGG Can Be Used Within UK Ethical and Legal Frameworks

Concerns about privacy are legitimate — but manageable.
 

Safeguards that support UK adoption:

  • Use only for serious violent crime

  • Require senior authorisation (e.g. ACC level)

  • Judicial or independent oversight

  • Use genealogy databases that permit law-enforcement opt-in

  • Prohibit use for minor offences or intelligence-only fishing
     

With safeguards, IGG is compatible with:

  • Article 8 ECHR (right to private life)

  • UK policing’s necessity, proportionality, and accountability standards

The UK Risks Falling Behind Modern Policing Standards

Other jurisdictions (e.g. parts of the US, Europe, Australia):

  • Already treat IGG as a specialist but accepted tool

  • Have formal governance models in place

  • Demonstrate strong solve-rate improvements in serious crime
     

Without IGG:

  • UK police rely disproportionately on chance DNA matches

  • Investigations stall despite available science

  • Public expectations increasingly outpace police capability

IGG Protects the Innocent as Well as Identifying the Guilty

IGG:

  • Helps exclude wrongly suspected individuals

  • Prevents tunnel vision

  • Anchors investigations in biological evidence rather than inference
     

In that sense, it strengthens due process, not weakens it.

Our Conclusion

IGG should be a standard (but tightly controlled) tool for UK police investigating violent crime because it:

  • Solves cases traditional DNA cannot

  • Is proportionate for the most serious offences

  • Delivers justice in long-unsolved cases

  • Improves public safety

  • Can operate within UK legal and ethical limits

  • Saves time and resources overall

  • Reduces wrongful suspicion
     

At this point, not using IGG when viable DNA exists is increasingly harder to justify in murder and rape investigations.

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