'Big Brother system': 6.5m people are on the police fingerprint database
Posted on 11/04/2007 10:36:07 PM PST by Stoat
More than one million people's genetic fingerprints have been added to the police DNA database in only ten months.
The "Big Brother" system, already the biggest in the world, now permanently stores the details of more than 4.5million individuals.
The rise is the equivalent of 150 new entries every hour. The database now covers one in 13 of the population - around 7.5 per cent.
The astonishing pace of growth has intensified concerns that the Government plans to create a universal genetic database by stealth, building a system which treats every citizen as a potential criminal from the day they are born.
Scroll down for more...
'Big Brother system': 6.5m people are on the police fingerprint database
Although the database is a crime-fighting tool, producing around 3,000 matches a month with samples taken from crime scenes, around a third of all the DNA stored is taken from individuals who were not charged with any offence, and have no criminal record.
Critics raised particular concerns over the huge rise in the number of children on the database. It now includes 150,000 under-16s.
The DNA records, which are taken regardless of whether a youngster has committed a crime or not, are held on file until the day they die.
Critics believe the system is open to sinister forms of abuse, and that the dangers are growing as the database expands.
They claim the data has been used for genetic research without the consent of individuals involved, including controversial attempts to predict "ethnic appearance" from DNA profiles.
Campaigners also fear unscrupulous government agencies could use the database to track political protesters, find out who they are related to, or to refuse jobs or visas to anyone considered "undesirable".
They have demanded tougher safeguards including time-limits on storing data and an independent regulator.
Critics also point out that the dramatic expansion of the DNA database has not made it any easier for police to solve crimes, since huge numbers of mostly lawabiding citizens are being caught up in the system who are unlikely to commit any serious offences in future.
LibDem home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said the figures, released in a Parliamentary written answer, showed the present policy was "disturbing and illiberal".
He said: "In whose name has the Government built this Orwellian database?
"It is bad enough that the Government has demolished the age- old distinction between innocence and guilt in cropping the DNA details of thousands of innocent people.
"It is even worse that they have done this without any meaningful public or Parliamentary debate."
In the past, police could take a DNA sample only from suspects who were charged with a criminal offence, and it was destroyed if they were subsequently cleared or a prosecution dropped.
But under reforms introduced in 2000 officers no longer have to erase innocent people's entries.
In 2004 police were given the power to take DNA swabs from anyone placed under arrest.
That paved the way for the massive growth in the size of the database seen in recent months.
When Tony Blair was Prime Minister, he insisted there should be "no limit" to the number on the database - suggesting that even those not accused of any offence should offer up their data.
The Home Office has repeatedly claimed the innocent have "nothing to fear" from the growth of the database, which police cite as a key tool in modern crime-fighting.
But critics fear the Government will eventually link the database to its plans for ID cards, and eventually move to make DNA sampling universal - an approach which civil liberties campaigners view as a nightmare scenario.
The latest published figures show a total of 4,523,154 entries held by mid-October.
Previous Home Office reports have showed that around a third of all entries were from those with no convictions or criminal record, suggesting that 1.5million innocent Britons now have their DNA stored.
At this rate of growth the database will double in size by 2011, with almost 10million profiles stored.
There are now 150,000 children aged 16 or under on the system, with another 334,000 aged between 16 and 18.
The row over the storing of children's DNA escalated this year when it emerged that around 50 under-tens were also on the database.
In one case, the DNA of a seven-month-old girl was added. Children can be added to the register only with their parents' agreement.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said: "The DNA database has become a national disgrace, stuffed with innocent children and a disproportionate number of black people.
"It is time it was limited to those who are guilty or under investigation for sexual or violent crime."
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an independent monitoring body, has called for a change in the law so that only the profiles of convicted criminals can be retained.
The data it's hard to delete
DNA samples can be taken by police routinely from anyone who is arrested.
It makes no difference whether the suspect is accused of a serious offence or a trivial one such as littering.
A swab is used to scrape a few cells from the inside of the suspect's cheek, and lab workers extract the unique DNA gene sequence which is then uploaded to the database.
Even if the case against a suspect is dropped, their sample stays on file.
Police can also take DNA from arrested children without their parental permission.
Only if the child is under ten is written consent needed.
Anyone can write to a chief constable asking for an entry to be deleted if they can prove they are an "exceptional case". But campaigners say this is hard.
Liberty fought a six-month legal battle to persuade Avon and Somerset Police to delete a sample taken from a boy of 13 falsely accused of writing graffiti.
(edit)
"It is even worse that they have done this without any meaningful public or Parliamentary debate."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.