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Policing- In Brief; UK: DNA tests on arrest.

01 March 2003

The government announced in March that police officers will be given powers to take and keep fingerprints and DNA samples from anyone whom they arrest. The announcement triggers a huge extension of the national DNA database - at the moment police officers keep samples if a person is subsequently released or is acquitted. The system broke down because police forces routinely failed to delete from the national database thousdands of records which should have been deleted. The decision comes after pressure from the chief constables of several large urban forces, but ignores evidence of irregularities and misuse of DNA samples from the United States. Earlier this year in Texas thousands of convictions based on DNA evidence were called into question after investigators disclosed poor standards, incompetence and contamination of evidence at American laboratories. One University of California criminologist examined eight cases and found that correct scientific procedures had not been followed in any of them. In February ACPO announced that it is considering opening a voluntary database "to help police identify victims after a terrorist attack on Britain." The proposed databasewould have to hold international DNA information said Chief Inspector Alan Clark from the British Transport Police. Police Review 7.2.03; Guardian 12.3.03