8th January 2010
DNA Failure Alerts!
By Mark Hanson
As each day passes it becomes clearer and clearer that the Home Office is acting in a state of denial.
Pressing ahead with a dogged determination, that itself would be cause for admiration if based on truth, it is blinded to the mounting evidence and concerns over the mammoth National DNA Database (NDNAD).
The public consultation, upon which I have reported in previous articles and news items, has proved to be a constitutional exercise with no real desire on the part of the Home Office to listen.
Add to that research carried out by scientists that has shown that a DNA profile, and even a DNA sample, can readily and easily be falsified, and the admission by a senior police officer that the NDNAD has been a factor in the solving of less than 1% of crimes, it becomes clear that the NDNAD’s primary likely use is social control.
It is very likely that the respondents to the public consultation were pragmatic in their submissions. Rabel certainly was, toning down the general opposition to the DNA Database out of respect for the assertion that it helped catch criminals.
Now even that prop has been knocked out from under the Government’s feet. Less than 1% of solved crimes had DNA as a factor.
The National DNA Database needs to be regulated and legislated for. That is an urgent matter. Yet the Bill passing through Parliament at present is woefully authoritarian and based on police wants rather than evidential and democratic purposes.
