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EU police will access our DNA database
Last updated at 01:07am on 17.02.07
Police across the EU will gain access to Britain's fingerprint, DNA and car registration databases
Police across the EU will gain access to Britain's DNA, fingerprint and car registration databases in what critics are calling another move towards a "Big Brother Europe".
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The Home Office has agreed to a data-sharing network of national crime records across 27 EU states.
Officers from those countries will be able to access records as early as next year.
The UK has the largest criminal DNA database in the world, holding nearly 4million samples.
Critics warned last night that innocent tourists could find themselves caught up in police investigations abroad if their fingerprints were found near the scene of a crime.
Brussels officials defended the data-sharing as a "modern police information network for more effective crime control throughout Europe".
But Shadow Home Secretary David Davis called it "deeply troubling". "The information includes personal data, it is not limited to criminals and there are no reliable means to guarantee the safeguards on the use of that information by criminal gangs or those not entitled to use that data," he added.
Conservative MEP Syed Kamall added: "Not content with Big Brother Britain, our Government is allowing the creation of Big Brother Europe."
Reader views (3)
Why shouldn't our capital city of Brussels have a database on all EU residents? Makes perfect sense to me. You have to stop thinking of Britain as being a country. That's the key. Think of it as the province that it has become, and Brussels having a database of all EU residents makes perfect sense!
- Phil Jones, London UK
Surely, its not the sharing of CRIMINAL data thats wrong. It is the sharing of data files of "Joe Citizen" that would be wrong. Thus it is important not to restrict police cooperation in criminal investigation, but to control the data that is available about non-criminals in the interests of privacy and presumed innocence.
- Rogan M., DFW TX USA
And likewise the British Police will be able to access similar EU Data which will be a great advantage to their investigations and checks, considering our open border policies. All that is needed now if for all non EU residents to be required to register with the Police and give their fingerprints, photographs and DNA, and the Eurozone should be a safer place.
- Robert, Hull, East Yorks
