Hundreds of thousands of DNA profiles kept by police in the UK are to be deleted after a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights. At the moment there are almost 1.1 million DNA profiles on the database of people who were arrested but not convicted.

Hundreds of thousands of DNA profiles kept
by police in the UK are to be deleted after a ruling by the European Court of
Human Rights. At the moment there are almost 1.1 million DNA profiles on the
database of people who were arrested but not convicted. From now on, only if a
person has been convicted may his profile be kept on the database. For less
serious crimes, it can be stored for three years, with a possible extension of
two years. For serious crimes, it can be stored indefinitely.

The coalition government plans to appoint a
Commissioner for the Retention and Use of Biometric Material. He will assess
applications to retain DNA profiles on national security grounds.

Home Office crime prevention minister James
Brokenshire offered a human rights perspective: “We want to make sure that
the guilty are put on it and the innocent are taken off.” However, the
opposition declared that the government was discarding a valuable
crime-fighting tool. ~ BBC, Feb 11

Michael Cook
privacy
UK