The police and the DNA database

Police officers are arresting people just to get them on the national DNA database, it has been claimed.

Officers are being told to arrest "for everything" where they have the power to, simply in order to take a genetic sample, a report said.

The explosive allegation was made in a report by the Government's genetics advisers, the Human Genetics Commission.

A retired police superintendent wrote to the commission to warn that the tradition of arresting only when dealing with serious offences had collapsed. In the past, he said, officers were warned during training of the seriousness of arrest powers and depriving a suspect of their liberty - and urged to use them only with serious offences or suspects who were likely to flee.

Less serious offenders would be summonsed to the magistrates' court instead, the officer wrote. But since the database was created in 1995, things had changed, he said.

In a letter to the commission, he said: "It is obvious that the system I have described no longer prevails. It is now the norm to arrest offenders for everything if there is a power to do so.

"It is apparently 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: samples can be obtained after arrest but not if there is a report for summons."

Civil liberties groups seized on the accusations, saying database rules were creating a "perverse incentive" for officers to arrest the innocent. Isabella Sankey, director of policy at Liberty said: "Not only are we stockpiling the most sensitive information of innocents who have never been charged, let alone convicted, we are also creating a perverse incentive to arrest people solely to get their details on the database."

Senior police officers rejected the suggestion that arrests were being made just to get DNA samples. Chief Constable Chris Sims, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers on forensics, said it was "crucial" that officers arrest only when it was necessary and proportionate.

He said: "DNA evidence has helped to solve numerous crimes as well as bringing offenders to justice. But the police service recognises its use must be reasonable and retain the support of the public."

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The police truly are a **íng disgrace.