Take innocent children's DNA off the system, says Bridget Fox (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

Take innocent children's DNA off the system, says Bridget Fox

August 18, 2009 3:15 PM

Under Labour, 298 young people have DNA samples taken every day.

Questioning by the Liberal Democrats has revealed that 298 young people on the streets of Britain have DNA samples taken from them every single day.

The samples are placed on the national DNA database.

The National Policing Improvement Agency, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Liberal Democrats, said that it now holds over 1 million DNA samples from children as young as 10, even if they have never been charged with any crime.

Bridget Fox, Liberal Democrat campaigner and PPC for Islington South & Finsbury, said:

"Storing the DNA of thousands of primary school children does nothing to tackle crime or the fear of crime. If you're innocent, there's no reason to have your most personal data kept for years.

"Liberal Democrats have long been concerned about the police keeping innocent people's DNA. And it's particularly unacceptable when we're talking about children."

The Metropolitan Police is the most over-zealous of all the police forces, taking DNA from 39 children and teenagers every single day in the last ten years. In Camden alone, police are adding on average 350 samples a year from children to the National DNA Database - that's almost one a day.

The Lib Dem enquiries have revealed that nearly 40% of these 1.1 million mouth swabs have been taken from 10-14 year-olds, and then stored alongside data on each young person's 'ethnic appearance,' sex and age. In 2009 alone, police forces have taken DNA from 54,311 'subject profiles' aged between 10 and 17. If the child is over 10, their DNA sample can be retained on the database indefinitely, whether or not they are convicted (or even charged) with any criminal offence.

Bridget added: "Most young people in Islington are good kids, more likely to be victims of crime than to be offenders. The Police should be targeting the bad guys, not taking DNA from everyone. And if someone's cleared of any crime, then their DNA should be cleared from the system too."

"This is more evidence of Labour's doomed approach to tackling crime:unfair, heavy-handed, expensive, and ineffective."