DNA testing: call for new rules
Updated on 24 November 2009
The Human Genetics Commission wants to limit the circumstances in which police take DNA samples from those they have arrested.
A new report by the independent government advisory body, entitled "Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear?", notes that police routinely take DNA samples from those they arrest.
As a result, according to HGC chairman Professor Jonathan Montgomery, "large numbers of people on the DNA database will be there not because they have been convicted, but because they’ve been arrested".
The report calls for proper scrutiny of the system of taking DNA samples because there is little "concrete evidence" of the DNA database's usefulness in combating crime. It wants a law to clarify what DNA profiles can be used for, and proposes penalties for those who abuse DNA records.
Although the government has no plans to limit police powers to take samples, last week's Queen's speech contained a crime and security bill which proposed new rules on how long DNA samples could be stored.
