UK Government Queried Over DNA Records: Rights groups claim Britain is moving towards a 'future police state'

The Epoch Times
Jan. 22, 2006

A DNA government database of around 24,000 youngsters who have never committed a crime was inadvertently uncovered on Saturday.

Conservative MP Grant Shapps discovered the database whilst campaigning to have the DNA records of a wrongfully arrested teenager erased.

At present the DNA samples taken from suspects whilst under arrest can be retained even if the person is later found to have been innocent.

Shapps was concerned over the apparently secretive way in which the database is being compiled, and urged it to be brought out into the open.

"If the government wants to build a DNA database of the entire population, starting with kids — bring forward proposals, pass it through parliament and have a debate," he told the BBC.

Shapps championed the case of Fourteen-year-old Jack Saywood when his DNA details were retained despite being arrested as a result of mistaken identity. His information was later deleted from the database by police officers under pressure from the MP.

Home Office Minister Andy Burnham argued that the information was merely an "investigative tool", rather than serving as evidence of a criminal record.

"The database provides critical leads in the detection of crime and that's the huge public benefit this database brings," he told BBC radio.

The juvenile database forms part of a larger National DNA database, which includes over 3 million entries — 139,463 of which are from people would have never been charged or cautioned.

The Home Office said earlier this month that it was planning on expanding the records to hold 4.25 million by 2008. The database, which currently costs £300 million, is already the largest in the world.

The pressure group GeneWatch UK argued that the information had the potential to turn Britain into a "Big Brother state".

"Within living memory, both fascist and communist governments in Europe have used personal records as a means of oppressing different populations," spokeswoman for GeneWatch Dr Helen Wallace was quoted by the BBC as saying.

Burnham said that at present police have the power to manage the database, and can add or delete entries as they see fit.

Earlier this month the National Black Police Association called for an inquiry into the apparent over-representation of Black people on the National DNA database.

The Guardian newspaper found that 37% of the black population in Britain were on the records, compared to only 10% of the white community.

Spokesman for the National Black Police Association Keith Jarrett queried whether the police had dealt with each group in society with the "same robustness."

"We know from the stop and search figures that black people are disproportionally more likely to be stopped and to come into the custody area than white people," he told the BBC.

Burnham argued that there were "proper safeguards in place" to prevent the misuse of information.

GeneWatch argue that there needs to be an independent body oversee the database.