POLICE are arresting people just to get them on the national DNA database, a retired senior officer has claimed in a report published today.
An unnamed ex-police superintendent told the Government's genetic advisers, the Human Genetics Commission (HGC), officers were being urged to arrest "for anything" they can, simply in order to take a genetic sample.
The allegation is revealed in t
he HGC's report into DNA storage, which concludes that there is "very little evidence" to show how useful the national database is in investigating crime.
Authors of the report, Nothing to hide, nothing to fear?, also raised fears DNA practices were leading to some ethnic groups being "disproportionately" represented on the database and stigmatised as a result.
Young black men were "very highly over-represented", accounting for more than three-quarters of males aged 18 to 35 on the database.
HGC chairman Professor Jonathan Montgomery said the system had suffered from "function creep" over the years and had transformed from a database of offenders to a database of suspects.
The commission's fears grew after receiving a letter from the retired superintendent, who warned the tradition of arresting only when dealing with serious offences had collapsed.
Minor offenders used to be summoned to the magistrates' courts rather than arrested, the former officer wrote, but this changed after the database was created in 1995.
He added: "It is now the norm to arrest offenders for everything if there is a power to do so.
"It is apparently understood by serving police officers that one of the reasons, if not the reason, for the change in practice, is so that the DNA of the offender can be obtained: samples can be obtained after arrest but not if there is a report for summons.
"It matters not, of course, whether the arrest leads to no action, a caution or charge, because the DNA is kept on the database anyway."
Opposition politicians and civil liberties group Liberty seized on the claims, suggesting they proved police forces were striving to enhance the database irrespective of guilt or innocence.
Shadow Home Office Minister James Brokenshire said: "Under Labour's surveillance state, everyone is treated as a potential suspect.
"Conservatives have set out how it is possible to balance personal freedom against community safety. Labour Ministers, on the other hand, still cling to a more 'Big Brother' view."
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: "Ministers make no distinction between innocence and guilt and as a result everyone is treated like a suspect. Innocent people should be removed from the database."
Liberty's director of policy Isabella Sankey said: "Not only are we stockpiling the most sensitive information of innocents who have never been charged, let alone convicted, we are also creating a perverse incentive for officers to arrest the innocent."
Official figures show the database holds more than 5.5 million profiles – about one in 10 of the population of England and Wales – but police chiefs said it was "plainly wrong" to suggest arrests were being made simply to increase that number.
West Midlands Police chief constable Chris Sims, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers on forensics, said: "DNA has helped to solve numerous crimes as well as bringing offenders to justice.
"But the police service recognises its use must be reasonable and retain the support of the public."
Proposed changes before Parliament would reduce how long innocent people can be kept on the database, but there are no plans to alter the criteria for when samples should be taken – currently allowed for any recordable offence carrying a prison sentence.
