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Report claims police arrest people to get their DNA samples

by Sylvie Barak on 26 November 2009, 09:05

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Genetic guilt

The Guardian says that Prof Jonathan Montgomery, chairman of the commission, said it had now become "pretty routine to take DNA samples on arrest," adding "large numbers of people on the DNA database will be there not because they have been convicted, but because they've been arrested."

Apparently Montgomery has also been told by a former police superintendent that it is "understood by serving police officers that one of the reasons, if not the reason, for the change in practice is so that the DNA of the offender can be obtained."

Worse still, while the boys in blue are busy hoarding as much genetic data as they can, the commission's report says there's only very little evidence it even helps convict criminals at the end of the day. What it does do, however, is create a whole long list of "pre-suspects".

Guilty before being proven innocent, anyone?

 


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HEXUS Forums :: 6 Comments

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Posted by aidanjt - Thu 26 Nov 2009 11:05
Giving police arbitrary powers lead to abuse of said powers?.. Never!
Posted by shaithis - Thu 26 Nov 2009 16:25
I get the feeling it's lazy cops who see their job made easier the more people they can get into the database.

Or more specifically, the bosses, who will get very large bonuses if their targets are surpassed…..
Posted by Saracen - Thu 26 Nov 2009 17:26
aidanjt
Giving police arbitrary powers lead to abuse of said powers?.. Never!
Well, if you give authorities some surveillance powers to fight terrorism, they obviously wouldn't use them to make sure families lived in the catchment areas for their kid's schools, would they?

Oh wait ……. :(


I completely agree with you, aidan. The DNA database may have uses and may be valuable in some cases, and is no doubt responsible for putting some nasty people behind bars for long periods. But as soon as a tool like that exists, I'd say that that it will be abused is a given. It's just a question of how widely it's abused, how long it takes for it to happen and how blatant it is.

And it has a negative effect in some situations, too. For instance, over the years the police have often done area sweeps asking for all males to volunteer samples looking for a rapist. I would have agreed to that in years gone past, but now, my answer will be “not a chance. Get a warrant”. There are now NO circumstances under which I'd volunteer DNA, even if given assurances that the DNA would be destroyed afterwards, because I simply would not believe the assurance. And I'm sure I'm not alone in that.
Posted by Andeh13 - Thu 26 Nov 2009 18:38
Are there any statistics which show the proportion of white offenders in prisons in relation to others? For example a breakdown of the entire population of the UK, then in theory that proportion should be the same in jails?

Just curious about the context of;
As if that wasn't bad enough, it seems the police are also being rather, ehem, selective about their profile subjects, with a stunning three-quarters of young black males, aged 18 to 35, already in the database.
Posted by 12GaugeShotty - Fri 27 Nov 2009 13:32
Why is it that nobody likes the police until they need them (ie being robbed, raped or murdered)?

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