EU court gives rare benefit
Innocents’ DNA must be destroyed
More than 1.6 million DNA and fingerprint samples of innocent people on police databases must be destroyed after a court ruled yesterday that keeping them breaches human rights.
It’s unusual that I have to praise a European institution but a landmark judgement by the European Court of Human Rights is a big setback for the Government and police who must now decide before the end of March to implement the ruling or find a way of retaining records that satisfies the court.
Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, welcomed the decision.
“The court has used human rights principles and common sense to deliver the privacy protection of innocent people that the British Government has shamefully failed to deliver.”
The important point to note here is that by keeping samples from innocent people who have never been found guilty of committing a crime, or where they were charged and the charge was subsequently dropped, or are only minors, the police have created a system whereby they somehow expect these people to commit a crime sometime in the future. Thus we all become suspects on a database of possible future criminals!!
For those who keep peddling the argument that if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, may I say, that I fear having to prove that I have nothing to hide!
It’s a complete nonsense and the sooner that NuLabour’s Jacqui Smith wakes up to it the better for all of us.
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The unfortunate thing is, The Heat of MiniLuv Jacqui Smith has already said they’re going to keep hold of the information.
Quote from Pravda’s article (http://tinyurl.com/6jhdvy):
“The home secretary said: “DNA and fingerprinting is vital to the fight against crime, providing the police with more than 3,500 matches a month.
“The government mounted a robust defence before the court and I strongly believe DNA and fingerprints play an invaluable role in fighting crime and bringing people to justice.
“The existing law will remain in place while we carefully consider the judgement.”
They’ve got the data now, and want more. They’ll never relinquish it – even if it has to come off the police database, it’ll just be held somewhere else without our knowledge and consent.
Piece by piece, sliver by sliver, we’ve allowed a bastion of freedom to become a police state. Tragic.
Dungeekin
Dungeekin
December 5, 2008 at 1:19 pm
The European Court of Human Rights is not an EU court. It has nothing to do with the EU.
Steve
December 5, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Is this the same government that was recently complaining about asylum seekers and benefit ‘cheats’ drawing out appeals and playing the system?
Surely not.
Michael
December 6, 2008 at 12:45 am