News - Report claims police arrest people to get their DNA samples

[HEXUS]

A new report coming out today in the UK claims British bobbies are arresting people simply to get their DNA on file.

Read more.

[aidanjt]

Giving police arbitrary powers lead to abuse of said powers?.. Never!

[shaithis]

I get the feeling it's lazy cops who see their job made easier the more people they can get into the database.

Or more specifically, the bosses, who will get very large bonuses if their targets are surpassed.....

[Saracen]

Giving police arbitrary powers lead to abuse of said powers?.. Never!

Well, if you give authorities some surveillance powers to fight terrorism, they obviously wouldn't use them to make sure families lived in the catchment areas for their kid's schools, would they?

Oh wait .......


I completely agree with you, aidan. The DNA database may have uses and may be valuable in some cases, and is no doubt responsible for putting some nasty people behind bars for long periods. But as soon as a tool like that exists, I'd say that that it will be abused is a given. It's just a question of how widely it's abused, how long it takes for it to happen and how blatant it is.

And it has a negative effect in some situations, too. For instance, over the years the police have often done area sweeps asking for all males to volunteer samples looking for a rapist. I would have agreed to that in years gone past, but now, my answer will be "not a chance. Get a warrant". There are now NO circumstances under which I'd volunteer DNA, even if given assurances that the DNA would be destroyed afterwards, because I simply would not believe the assurance. And I'm sure I'm not alone in that.

[Andeh13]

Are there any statistics which show the proportion of white offenders in prisons in relation to others? For example a breakdown of the entire population of the UK, then in theory that proportion should be the same in jails?

Just curious about the context of;

As if that wasn't bad enough, it seems the police are also being rather, ehem, selective about their profile subjects, with a stunning three-quarters of young black males, aged 18 to 35, already in the database.

[12GaugeShotty]

Why is it that nobody likes the police until they need them (ie being robbed, raped or murdered)?

[eiamhere69]

Because they're not there when you need them (too busy lining their own pockets with fines). I know many people who were advised not to log crimes as "there would likely be repurcussions".

Also I have seen officers being directed to criminals, by witnesses, only for them to tell said witnesses that there is no point taking them, as they would be out the next day (I'm talking about Car theft and Destroying cars by very dangerous means around the play areas of children).