Police chiefs want DNA from minor offenders to be kept on database

Published on Tuesday 26 May 2009 22:01

THE chief constables of Scotland's two biggest police forces yesterday urged politicians to allow them to keep the DNA of people who commit minor offences on a national database.

Stephen House and David Strang, who are in charge of the Strathclyde and Lothian and Borders forces, believe the move would allow police to catch offenders before they become serial rapists and murderers.

Ministers are considering whether to allow the temporary retention of DNA from people who are handed a fixed penalty notice from the police for committing a minor offence.

Such a step would mean thousands of people who receive the 40 fine every year would have their DNA taken and kept on the national police database alongside murderers, rapists and other criminals. Currently, police in Scotland are only allowed to keep the DNA of people who have a court conviction.

But Mr House said the use of fixed penalty notices in recent years meant a "section" of the country's offending population was now able to avoid inclusion on the DNA database, which currently contains more than 250,000 profiles.

He claimed that people who commit very minor offences were more likely than other members of the public to commit serious crimes such as rape and murder, pointing out that "Yorkshire Ripper" Peter Sutcliffe was caught after committing a minor traffic offence.

"I believe these sorts of offences (which result in fixed penalty notices] can often be indicative of a lifestyle which may include violence, and which may include a proclivity to violence.

"And it's not always what will happen in future. It may be this person is a serial offender and the first time they come to the notice of the police – because it's the first time we catch them doing anything – is when they're drinking in public.

"If we take their DNA we can then find they are an offender. If we (cannot], then we will lose that ability to sift through these people."

Fixed penalty notices were introduced across Scotland in 2007 to reduce the time spent by police dealing with low-level offending. More than 50,000 have since been issued.

Mr Strang said the fact that police could no longer keep DNA in connection with offences which used to be dealt with in court but now result in a fixed penalty notice, was an "unintended consequence" of introducing the police fines.

He said the "loophole" needed to be closed. "I think it was perhaps an oversight in earlier times and I think that needs to be resolved," he said.

However, members of the Scottish Parliament's justice committee last night gave a lukewarm response to the police's call.

Bill Aitken, the committee's convener and Tory justice spokesman, said: "I would need a lot more persuading prior to going ahead with this."

Robert Brown, Lib Dem justice spokesman and fellow committee member, said: "Ultimately this is an interference into people's liberties so any expansion of the categories (for DNA retention] must be justified."

The SNP is already proposing an extension of the DNA database to include children who commit serious violent and sexual crimes.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We do not support the blanket retention of forensic data nor indefinite retention from individuals other than those convicted of a crime in court."