Modbert
Daydream Believer
- Sep 2, 2008
- 33,178
- 3,055
- 48
Big Brother Alert!
U.K. cops arrest people âjust for the DNAâ - Europe- msnbc.com
Thoughts?
U.K. cops arrest people âjust for the DNAâ - Europe- msnbc.com
LONDON - Britain has built the world's biggest DNA database without proper political debate and police routinely arrest people just to get their DNA profiles onto the system, the genetics watchdog said in a report on Tuesday.
The Human Genetics Commission, which advises the government on the social, legal and ethical aspects of genetics, called for a review of the database and said new laws must be passed to govern its use.
More than three-quarters of young black men aged between 18 and 35 are on the system, the report said.
Set up in 1995, the database contains the DNA profiles of five million citizens, eight percent of the population, making it the world's biggest in proportion to population size.
Conservative Home Office spokesman James Brokenshire said Gordon Brown's government had allowed the DNA database to grow "for the sake of it, regardless of guilt or innocence."
"Under Labor's surveillance state, everyone is treated as a potential suspect," he said.
Police in England and Wales can take and store the DNA of anyone arrested for a recordable offence, a category that includes all but minor crimes.
Thoughts?