14 June 2007
We received a petition asking:
"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to legislate to require all UK Police forces to delete DNA data from persons not convicted of an offence."
Details of petition:
"The Police, with government support, are building a DNA database without Parliamentary or public consent. This is being achieved by collecting DNA data during the arrest procedure, and subsequently retaining this information, in perpetuity, even if a person is later released without charge or acquitted. We believe this is an unjustified accumulation of private data by the State, which erodes the presumption of innocence and feeds a culture of authoritarianism."
Read the Government’s response
Police powers to take DNA on arrest are laid down by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. Amendments to this Act to widen these powers in recent years have been made by the normal legislative process requiring parliamentary consent. In 2001, the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 amended PACE so that the police no longer had to destroy DNA taken from people who were acquitted or where charges were dropped; the Criminal Justice Act 2003 widened police powers so that DNA can be taken from anyone arrested for a recordable offence regardless of whether they are later charged or convicted.
While the Government understands that some people are concerned by these powers it firmly believes that they are justified by the additional crimes solved. Sampling persons who have been arrested but not proceeded against has yielded a match with a crime scene in over 3,000 offences including 37 murders. 16 attempted murders and 90 rapes.
The DNA Database does not contain information on criminal records (this is held on the Police National Computer). Someone whose DNA profile is held on the DNA Database but has not been convicted does not suffer as a result - they do not appear in any criminal record checks for job applications and the like, as they do not have such a record.