Police making arrests 'just to gather DNA samples' [United Kingdom]
By BBC,
BBC news
| 11. 24. 2009
Police officers in England and Wales have made arrests just to get people on to the DNA database, a retired police superintendent has claimed.
He told the Human Genetics Commission (HGC) this was the "norm". It wants new guidance for police to regulate when it is appropriate to take a sample of DNA.
Police chiefs have denied the claim, which they called "plainly wrong".
The database for England and Wales also holds some profiles of people arrested in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Last year, 17,614 offences were solved using a DNA match, including 83 killings and 184 rapes.
The national DNA database in numbers
There are now about five million profiles on the national DNA database, a rise of 40% in two years.
The retired police superintendent, who is quoted but not named in a HGC report entitled Nothing to Hide, Nothing to Fear?, wrote to the advisory body expressing concerns that the way in which people were arrested appeared to have changed.
He wrote: "It is now the norm to arrest offenders for everything if there is a power...
Related Articles
By Josie Ensor, The Times | 12.09.2025
A fertility start-up that promises to screen embryos to give would-be parents their “best baby” has come under fire for a “misuse of science”.
Nucleus Genomics describes its mission as “IVF for genetic optimisation”, offering advanced embryo testing that allows...
By Hannah Devlin, The Guardian | 12.06.2025
Couples undergoing IVF in the UK are exploiting an apparent legal loophole to rank their embryos based on genetic predictions of IQ, height and health, the Guardian has learned.
The controversial screening technique, which scores embryos based on their DNA...
By Frankie Fattorini, Pharmaceutical Technology | 12.02.2025
Próspera, a charter city on Roatán island in Honduras, hosts two biotechs working to combat ageing through gene therapy, as the organisation behind the city advertises its “flexible” regulatory jurisdiction to attract more developers.
In 2021, Minicircle set up a...
By Vardit Ravitsky, The Hastings Center | 12.04.2025
Embryo testing is advancing fast—but how far is too far? How and where do we draw the line between preventing disease and selecting for “desirable” traits? What are the ethical implications for parents, children, clinicians, and society at large? These...
