The UK Police National DNA Database

GeneWatch has many concerns about the Police National DNA Database.

We believe the law should be changed to make the Database much smaller and more carefully controlled. More public debate is needed to determine the appropriate balance between crime detection, human rights and privacy.

We think that there are important changes that can be made to safeguard privacy and rights without compromising the use of DNA in fighting crime.

Please join our campaign

  • Contact your council and local Police Authority and ask them to develop a new policy on DNA retention. You can find contact details for your Police Authority here. Their website will include a list of members, including local councillors, information about when they meet and their procedures for listening to your views. Use the GeneWatch briefing to help you.
  • Visit or write to your MP - use the points in our position statement and the GW briefings to compose your letter. Use the 'they work for you' website to find your MP.
  • If you have had your DNA taken by the police, ask for your record to be removed from the database - use our guide to help you.

  • Black Mental Health UK has launched a campaign calling for innocent mental health patients to be removed from the Database. You can sign their petition here.

    The Liberal Democrats have also launched a petition calling on the Government to remove innocent people's DNA from the police database. It can be signed at: 'Protect innocent people's DNA'.

    The Nuffield Council on Bioethics held a consultation and published a report in September 2007, calling for innocent people to be removed from the Database.

    In 2007, the Home Office proposed further expanding the National DNA Database by taking DNA on arrest for dropping litter in shopping centres. Read more about the proposals and responses to the Home Office consultation here, including serious concerns from the police.

    The Home Office has since told the Home Affairs Committee that it will hold a consultation about the DNA Database later this year. In its surveillance society report, the Committee calls for a new regulatory framework for the Database, the correction of inaccuracies in data, consultation to clarify the purposes and processes of DNA colection and retention, and primary legislation to allow full parliamentary scrutiny of the new framework. The Committee also concludes that a more accessible mechanism by which individuals can challenge retention of their records is needed, and the need to retain biological samples should be reviewed.

    Introduction

    The UK police now have more DNA samples than any other country. Over 6% of the UK's population is on the National DNA database compared to Austria, which has the 2nd largest proportion of the population on its police database at just over 1%. Although the assumption is that by holding the DNA profiles of more individuals on the database, more crimes will be solved, there is no evidence to support this. However, evidence of abuse of the information held on the police database is increasing, including its use for controversial genetic research without consent.

    Since April 2004, the police in England and Wales have been able to take DNA samples without consent from anyone arrested on suspicion of any recordable offence. Recordable offences include begging, being drunk and disorderly and taking part in an illegal demonstration. Both DNA profiles (the string of numbers used for identification purposes) and DNA samples (which contain unlimited genetic information), are kept permanently, even if the person arrested is never charged or is acquitted. A massive expansion in the number of individuals on the Database has not led to any noticable increase in the likelihood of identifying a suspect. GeneWatch believes the current practices are wrong and has a number of concerns about the governance of the database.

    In Scotland the law is different and DNA cannot be kept permanently from innocent people. However, DNA from people convicted of relatively minor offences such as Breach of the Peace can be kept for life.

    GeneWatch's Position Statement

    GeneWatch believes that DNA can be an important tool in criminal investigations. We are not opposed to the existence of a DNA Database. However, we oppose the current law and practice in England and Wales because:

    • it allows the permanent retention of DNA samples and records from anyone arrested for virtually any offence, regardless of whether they are charged or convicted;
    • uses of the Database are not adequately documented or controlled;
    • legislation has been rushed through without adequate public or parliamentary debate, in a political context where there are increasing concerns about a growing police state or surveillance society;
    • it will not make a significant difference to the detection of serious crime.

    The law in England and Wales goes much further than in any other country and similar proposals to keep the DNA of innocent people permanently were recently rejected by the Scottish Parliament.

    GeneWatch believes the law should be changed and that more public debate is needed to determine the appropriate balance between crime detection, human rights and privacy. We think that there are important changes that can be made to safeguard privacy and rights without compromising the use of DNA in fighting crime. These include:

    • a policy of time limits on the retention of people's DNA profiles on the Database, related to the seriousness of the offence and whether a person has been convicted (similar to the original policy adopted when the Database was set up in 1995). A policy on retention would limit the potential for future governments to misuse the data to restrict people's rights and freedoms. A public debate is needed to establish the details of who should be on the Database and for how long.;
    • destroying individuals' DNA samples once an investigation is complete, after the DNA profiles used for identification have been obtained. This would limit the potential for personal genetic information to be revealed in future, as science, technology and new policies develop;
    • an end to the practice of allowing companies to undertake controversial genetic research using the Database (which has included attempts to link DNA profiles with ethnicity). This practice breaches ethical requirements for informed consent to genetic research;
    • a return to the previous policy of taking DNA on charge, rather than arrest, except when the sample is needed to investigate the specific crime for which a person has been arrested. This would reinstate an important safeguard against the collection of DNA profiles reflecting discriminatory policing;
    • the creation of an independent, transparent and accountable governing body.

    What you can do.

    About a million people who have not been convicted of any offence, including at least a hundred thousand children, are now on the National DNA Database. Many others have been acquitted or have been convicted of relatively minor offences (including begging, being drunk and disorderly, or taking part in an illegal demonstration) but will remain on the Database for life. Their DNA samples will be kept permanently and may be used for controversial genetic research without their consent.

    If you are on the Database, the current law removes your right to have your DNA and associated records destroyed, although this is being challenged in the European Court of Human Rights. However, the Home Office has stated that the Chief Constable of the police force which arrested you does have the discretion to order the removal of your record and destruction of your DNA. If you feel strongly that your DNA is being wrongly retained, it is important to write to the relevant Chief Constable, contact your MP and, if you want publicity, to talk to your local press. The Home Office has already noted that an increasing number of people are requesting removal of their records and is trying to restrict removal to "exceptional cases". The law is likely to be changed only if enough people stand up for their rights.

    If your DNA is not on the database but you agree that changes are needed to the policy on DNA retention on the database, it is also important that you write to your MP and the press to raise the issue.

    Find out more on our 'reclaim your DNA' page

     

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