NO2ID

Does anyone know what the present status of the police DNA database is? The coalition made a great play before the 2010 election about how the details of innocent people would be removed. But since then, there's been silence. Have they actually done anything this last 12 months? And are the details of innocent citizens still being retained on the database, which Europe has said is illegal but which the last Labour government tried to circumvent?

Things have carried on more or less as before, pending the passage of the Protection of Freedoms Bill, which has been very slow. As currently drafted that would change the situation to be more like that in Scotland.

Outrageously, in my view, the Supreme Court recently declined to order police to comply with the existing law:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011 ... reme-court
- which if I interpret it correctly is that chief constables' discretion is being exercised back to front: they may not as a matter of law retain DNA and fingerprints without good reason; but in practice they will only agree to deletion if the person making the request can satisfy hidden criteria and demonstrate they are an exception to general retention.

So we have a situation where the present law is defied by the government, and the courts fail to enforce it on the grounds that parliament is thinking about making a statute, in due course, that would be a little bit more favourable to the police than the current situation.

Truly dismal. And these riots. The knee-jerk reaction of these political leaders makes me expect that the big play they made in 2010 about there being "too many" CCTV cameras on the street will be quickly dropped.

On the courts, it doesn't really surprise. Some years ago, I remember a top judge arguing that EVERYONE should be on the database so that concerns over it discriminating against minorities would be addressed! So, in other words, he wanted us all to suffer this serious loss of privacy.

But surely people who are still on the police database and the case against them was dropped before trial can take the whole matter up with Europe? Okay, the route is slow. And perhaps a test case can be paid for by Liberty, etc. But in view of the current situation, which Europe is clearly very unhappy with, a test case would finally a) clarify the law b) force the coalition government to act?

Otherwise, with the coalition in a "law and order" mode at present, we could be in for a long wait for matters to be resolved.