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Speeding drivers face DNA swabs under new Big Brother powers
Last updated at 07:22am on 02.08.07
Speeding, dropping litter or even forgetting to wear a seatbelt could land you on the 'Big Brother' database for life
Drivers stopped for speeding - or even for failing to wear a seatbelt - could soon be placed on the 'Big Brother' DNA database for life.
The most trivial offences, such as dropping litter, would also lead to samples being taken under sweeping new powers which police are demanding.
The samples would stay on the database, alongside those of murderers and rapists, even if the people involved were later cleared of any wrongdoing.
Campaigners condemned the plan as a step too far which could affect someone's job prospects for many years.
Under current rules, a person can have his or her DNA and fingerprints taken only if stopped for a 'recordable' offence - a crime serious enough to carry a jail term.
Minor offences such as allowing a dog to foul the footpath are excluded.
But police - backed by the Crown Prosecution Service - want to take DNA samples, fingerprints and even imprints of footwear for all offences.
They argue that, just because a person initially commits a low-level misdemeanour such as dog fouling, it does not mean they will not progress to the gravest crimes.
A chance to take their DNA - making any future crime far easier to solve - would be missed without new powers. Police also want to take samples - usually a mouth swab - at the scene of the "crime".
They say having to take offenders to the police station, as happens now, is too "bureaucratic".
The Home Office suggested the new powers to police in a consultation document earlier this year. Ministers are now under pressure to confirm the change.
There are already four million samples on the database - including those of a million suspects who turned out to be innocent.
Helen Wallace of GeneWatch UK said last night: 'There is significant potential for the loss of public trust in extending the taking and use of biometrics. They pose a serious threat to individual privacy and are unlikely to be an effective way to tackle crime.
"Any attempt to take DNA samples outside a police station is clearly unworkable."
Sonia Andrews of the Magistrates' Association said: 'We would find it difficult to justify extending the ability to take biometric data to cover nonrecordable offences.'
The Information Commissioner's Office warned of the danger of people being turned down for jobs if checks reveal details of minor offences committed many years ago.
Under the current system records of such offences are deleted after time. But if they are tagged to a DNA sample on the database they could remain 'active'.
But the idea is backed by police across the country, according to consultation responses published yesterday.
Inspector Thomas Huntley, of the Ministry of Defence Police, said failing to take samples 'could be seen as giving the impression that an individual who commits a nonrecordable offence could not be a repeat offender.
"While the increase of suspects on the database will lead to an increased cost, this should be considered as preferable to letting a serious offender walk from custody."
Pete Hutin, of Sussex Police, said the "taking of DNA samples in custody is unnecessarily bureaucratic".
David Evans, of the CPS, argued that the move would allow a 'more comprehensive database'.
The Home Office said: 'The DNA database has revolutionised the way the police can protect the public through identifying offenders and securing more convictions.
"The database provides police with, on average, over 3,500 matches each month and in 2005-6 alone led to matches against 422 homicides, 645 rapes, 1,974 other violent crimes and over 9,000 domestic burglaries.
"The consultation is about maximising police efficiency and ensuring that appropriate and effective safeguards are in place. No decisions have yet been made and any detailed proposals will be subject to a further public consultation next year."
The police demand was revealed as the Human Genetics Commission, the Government's independent DNA watchdog, launched an inquiry into the database. Panels across the country will gather evidence on public opinion.
Reader views (24)
This is another component of Labour's plan to exert control on all citizens.
Every day we're are captured by hundreds of CCTV cameras, our cars are trackes through automatic number plate recognition technology, our mobile phone can pin-point our position, and each time we use a credit/debit card we leave a record of where and when.
I don't know of any other EU country where its Government spies so much on its citizens. So what happened to our Human Rights? Now they want DNA for trivial offences.
Let's watch the public sleepwalk into this as they have done into everything else. Implementing this will only speed up the exodus to countries with a more liberal regime.
- Colin, Balsall Common
God, this is like something out of Judge Dredd. And we are supposed to be free...?
- Mark, St Albans
Minor offenders, guilty of non-recordable offences, would not necessarily go on to become "repeat offenders" and to take DNA samples might suggest that they will. Why is it that we suddenly have to be assumed guilty, or suspected of grave crimes because we may have committed minor offences or even simply dared to exist? And why is all this put to us in the interests of serving the Government or the police and their interests? I thought the idea was for them to be at our service not the other way round. We are free people and the Government/police should only be allowed to take DNA samples when they have sufficient evidence against us. It is not crime or terrorism that is eroding our way of life so much as the forces of the state.
- James Elliott, Eastbourne UK
What on earth is happening in this country? Totally over the top!
- Douglas, Bristol
Two choices for the people of this nation:
1. Allow the police/government to have a database of each of our DNA, to be used as and when they wish, including having this on the ID card database. Forget the need for a name, YOU WILL BE A NUMBER.
2. Recall that we actually live in a DEMOCRACY (which means the government SERVES us, it doesn't have power OVER us) and call time on big brother in all his guises.
What'll it be?
- Bobby Smith, Surrey, UK
Why you people allow this to go on, I have no idea. However why not just simplify the process? Instead of wasting time making all these little laws why not just create one: Everyone must go and give a sample of DNA. One law, it's all over. End of freedom, no end to crime.
- Trunk, US
Totally unnecessary. Just another move towards a 'Police State'.
- Brian, Bristol
Since when do the Police make law? They are there to enforce the law, no more. Britain is fast becoming a Police State in an Orwellian sense and I am very glad I have decided to emigrate. I suspect many others are reaching the tipping point especially given the prospect of another 5 years of a Labour government led by Gordon Brown.
- James, London, UK
It is obvious to anyone that the govt. wants to build a DNA database of every citizen in this country. This is just one more step to getting there.
- Simonk, London
I didn't know that we were now living in a democratically elected communist state. Have these people proposing these laws been living in North Korea recently?
How can anyone in their right mind argue that someone who may commit a minor misdeameanour such as going one or two miles over the speed limit will then turn into some sort of depraved mass murderer?
I think Inspector Huntley needs to remember that the UK is a free and democratic country and not a nanny or communist state and that you cannot go around infringing on peoples human rights in this manner.
- Alistair, Orpington UK
So yet another little nibble is taken from the rights of the individual and the presumption of innocence.
In time, these proposed measures will doubtless also be described by police as 'unworkable' or 'too bureaucratic', and the suggestion made that a yet 'more comprehensive database' would improve detection and conviction rates - samples would never be destroyed, just in case, and before too long children subjected to DNA sampling at birth. Where does this ultimately lead - to the pre-offense 'sanctions' of Minority Report?
And so, little by little, we sleepwalk to a police state.
- Paul G, Newbury, Berks
Talk about brandishing - so you let your dog do a poo in a park and suddenly you're more likely to become a murderer? Nice. I hope they don't get away with this one, it's a particularly horrible idea.
- Isabel, Woking, England
Talk about access to absolute power. Next they will be asking for DNA samples to be taken at birth!
- Graham, Reading, England
Why not criminalise breathing then everyone can be on the database!
- Michael, London
It all seems a bit pointless if we have a system where murders and rapists are sentenced to a few paltry years and then let out early to re-offend anyway.
- Trevor Roll, London
Every and anyone can progress to a 'serious' crime at any time. The vast majority do not. Another half-baked ill-informed and misguided attempt to control the effects of inalienable free will by blind faith in technology from the same fantasists who brought you the NHS database, air traffic control and the mess that is social security. At least they're not proposing to spend the money on anything to do with the Olympics.
- Eric, London
Fine with me. I have nothing to hide. There is an alarming occurrence of stolen identity, vanishing offenders, illegal immigrants, benefit fraud etc. The UK is in need of a system to clearly identify people (speed offenders, just as well as murderers). DNA records seems a pretty reliable source to me. The identity confirmed by such biometric data should not only be readily available to police but also to any government agency that would need to unambiguously identify people (immigration, benefits etc). And yes, carrying ID cards should be obligatory.
- Patrick W., Brussels, Belgium
This is just the latest example of a creeping trend towards a totalitarian state.
The only way to consult or gather public opinion on such contentious issues would be via a referendum but imagine how often this government would get a bloody nose if they dared to democratically consult on their ever increasing interference in all our lives!
- Keith Simpson, Wareham, England
What next CCTV in our our own homes? I am a man and not a number!
- Stuart, London
Speeding is not a minor crime at all, speeding kills 1200 people a year.
- Susan Porter, UK
If it is so important to expand the DNA database then there should be proper public consultation and Parliamentary debate about whether it would be right to record the DNA of every inhabitant of the UK - not just try to sneak its expansion in through back-door methods.
- Graham, Guildford
This is the most outrageous infringement of civil liberty this police state have dreamt up so far. If they want to take a DNS sample from me because I've been caught dropping litter, they'll have to take it by force!
If this is supposed to ultimately be an anti-terrorist measure, all it will actually guarantee is anarchy! If that's what life will be like in the UK, maybe it's better that the extremists raze it to the ground right now?
- Brian Jenkins, Brighton UK
Oh my god! George Orwell's timing was off by twenty odd years, but he was right!
- Casper, London UK
I agree; anyone who allows their dog to foul a footpath is certainly capable of the most heinous of crimes.
- Dave, Cornwall
