Further action
The new law in the Crime and Security Act 2010 allows the Government to keep innocent people’s DNA and fingerprint records for six years after their arrest (or three years for children). Records of arrest on the Police National Computer will not be removed at all. However, following the election, this law will not be implemented.
Instead, the Coalition Government has promised it will change the law again to bring it in line with Scotland’s law. This is a welcome promise but it is important that the new law includes all the necessary safeguards.
One way to help ensure this is to contact your MP. Your MP can write to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, to ask any questions that you have. Some important questions are:
- Will the new law ensure that people’s records on the Police National Computer (PNC) are deleted at the same time as people’s records on the DNA database? These records can be used to refuse someone a visa or a job just because they have been arrested.
- When does the Government expect to have the new law in place? Many innocent people are still waiting for their records to be deleted and their DNA samples to be destroyed.
- What will happen to people who have cautions or old convictions for minor offences? Their records used to be deleted after five or ten years but are now kept indefinitely.
- Will there be a system of independent oversight to make sure that the police delete people’s records when they are supposed to?
- Will the Government review whether some DNA samples are being collected unnecessarily, when they are not relevant to solving the alleged crime? This costs the taxpayer a lot of money and can traumatise children or people with mental health problems. It can also contribute to the racial bias in who is on the database.
- Will the new law contain tighter restrictions on how people’s stored DNA records can be used? For example, will it prevent the DNA database being used for research on people’s genetic characteristics without their consent?