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Big Brother UK: Police now hold DNA 'fingerprints' of 4.5m Britons
Last updated at 06:37am on 05.11.07More than one million people's genetic fingerprints have been added to the police DNA database in only ten months.
The "Big Brother" system, already the biggest in the world, now permanently stores the details of more than 4.5million individuals.
The rise is the equivalent of 150 new entries every hour. The database now covers one in 13 of the population - around 7.5 per cent.
The astonishing pace of growth has intensified concerns that the Government plans to create a universal genetic database by stealth, building a system which treats every citizen as a potential criminal from the day they are born.
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'Big Brother system': 6.5m people are on the police fingerprint database
Although the database is a crime-fighting tool, producing around 3,000 matches a month with samples taken from crime scenes, around a third of all the DNA stored is taken from individuals who were not charged with any offence, and have no criminal record.
Critics raised particular concerns over the huge rise in the number of children on the database. It now includes 150,000 under-16s.
The DNA records, which are taken regardless of whether a youngster has committed a crime or not, are held on file until the day they die.
Critics believe the system is open to sinister forms of abuse, and that the dangers are growing as the database expands.
They claim the data has been used for genetic research without the consent of individuals involved, including controversial attempts to predict "ethnic appearance" from DNA profiles.
Campaigners also fear unscrupulous government agencies could use the database to track political protesters, find out who they are related to, or to refuse jobs or visas to anyone considered "undesirable".
They have demanded tougher safeguards including time-limits on storing data and an independent regulator.
Critics also point out that the dramatic expansion of the DNA database has not made it any easier for police to solve crimes, since huge numbers of mostly lawabiding citizens are being caught up in the system who are unlikely to commit any serious offences in future.
LibDem home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg said the figures, released in a Parliamentary written answer, showed the present policy was "disturbing and illiberal".
He said: "In whose name has the Government built this Orwellian database?
"It is bad enough that the Government has demolished the age- old distinction between innocence and guilt in cropping the DNA details of thousands of innocent people.
"It is even worse that they have done this without any meaningful public or Parliamentary debate."
In the past, police could take a DNA sample only from suspects who were charged with a criminal offence, and it was destroyed if they were subsequently cleared or a prosecution dropped.
But under reforms introduced in 2000 officers no longer have to erase innocent people's entries.
In 2004 police were given the power to take DNA swabs from anyone placed under arrest.
That paved the way for the massive growth in the size of the database seen in recent months.
When Tony Blair was Prime Minister, he insisted there should be "no limit" to the number on the database - suggesting that even those not accused of any offence should offer up their data.
The Home Office has repeatedly claimed the innocent have "nothing to fear" from the growth of the database, which police cite as a key tool in modern crime-fighting.
But critics fear the Government will eventually link the database to its plans for ID cards, and eventually move to make DNA sampling universal - an approach which civil liberties campaigners view as a nightmare scenario.
The latest published figures show a total of 4,523,154 entries held by mid-October.
Previous Home Office reports have showed that around a third of all entries were from those with no convictions or criminal record, suggesting that 1.5million innocent Britons now have their DNA stored.
At this rate of growth the database will double in size by 2011, with almost 10million profiles stored.
There are now 150,000 children aged 16 or under on the system, with another 334,000 aged between 16 and 18.
The row over the storing of children's DNA escalated this year when it emerged that around 50 under-tens were also on the database.
In one case, the DNA of a seven-month-old girl was added. Children can be added to the register only with their parents' agreement.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of civil rights group Liberty, said: "The DNA database has become a national disgrace, stuffed with innocent children and a disproportionate number of black people.
"It is time it was limited to those who are guilty or under investigation for sexual or violent crime."
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics, an independent monitoring body, has called for a change in the law so that only the profiles of convicted criminals can be retained.
The data it's hard to delete
DNA samples can be taken by police routinely from anyone who is arrested.
It makes no difference whether the suspect is accused of a serious offence or a trivial one such as littering.
A swab is used to scrape a few cells from the inside of the suspect's cheek, and lab workers extract the unique DNA gene sequence which is then uploaded to the database.
Even if the case against a suspect is dropped, their sample stays on file.
Police can also take DNA from arrested children without their parental permission.
Only if the child is under ten is written consent needed.
Anyone can write to a chief constable asking for an entry to be deleted if they can prove they are an "exceptional case". But campaigners say this is hard.
Liberty fought a six-month legal battle to persuade Avon and Somerset Police to delete a sample taken from a boy of 13 falsely accused of writing graffiti.
Reader views (10)
I failed a roadside breath test but passed the subsequent test in the police station. The police took my DNA. I don't think it is right.
- Bill, London
I am never quite sure about the claim that law-abiding people have nothing to fear from having their DNA on this database. I asume that there is no implication that such people have something to fear if they don't subscribe to the database; but I would have thought that the record of government in protecting information, when not actively selling it on, would provide more than enough concern for most people. At a deeper level I cannot say that I am at all happy at the thought of living in a surveillance society monitored to this extent. Nor will it give me any greater confidence in our police and security services. I am on the other hand very happy to subscribe to a libertarian view of society in which police and state generally can only monitor or carry out surveillance with due cause which can be tested at law. I think police time and resources would be better spent tracking those against whom they have just cause for suspicion and leave the rest of us to our private pursuits.
- James Elliott, Eastbourne, UK
No this is not great news. How can anybody trust Nu Labor with all this centralised information. There have been too many mistakes by this government. They will become judge and the accuser at the same time. It will not be difficult to accuse anybody that they were "there and then" if they can plant this DNA.
- Pat, London
I've got nothing to hide so don't mind them having my DNA! If DNA was around in the years of the Moors Murderers and the Yorkshire Ripper, they would have been caught sooner and so many more lives would have been spared!
- Julie, Essex
This is wrong. The state should never have this overpowering information. We have always had separation of powers and if the state holds all the cards (and the evidence!) then how can you ever be sure you will be proved "innocent" ? Even if your are...
- Georgie, Islington, London
This is great news. The sooner we get everyone DNA'd and get everyone an identity card the sooner the UK will become a better place to live. Law abiding people shouldn't have anthing to fear with either of these.
- John, Woking
The growth of the DNA database is all well and good if you trust the Government, but I certainly don't trust the Government. Not to mention future governments who we obviously know nothing about now, but a few wrong turns down the road could see this data being used to control and keep tabs on the population. The worst case scenario doesn't bear thinking about.
- Jean, London
As long as the data is held appropriately, what's the problem?
If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. I'm sick and tired of criminals and those that defend them bleating on about human rights.
Let's give the police the tools they need to do the job (protect the law-abiding majority from criminals).
- Mark, London
Are crime detection rates going up? Is fear of crime decreasing? Do the public have faith in the justice system? Will ID cards work? Is this approach to 'law and order' doing any good?
The answer to all of the above is "no".
- Austen, London
I do find this alarming! However, I would rather my details be held on a database together with the rest of the country if it will help catch a paedophile, catch terrorists or make the streets safer. I want assurances however, that the information can be well used and protected.
- Stewart Steven, Crawley
