Response to Court of Appeal judgment and the views of Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys

John Wadham, director of Liberty:

"We are disturbed by the decision of the Court of Appeal to allow the police to retain the DNA records of innocent suspects. The government (and Parliament) has never had the courage to force all of us to give DNA samples (as suggested by the inventor of DNA identification). However it is content for those innocent of any crime but who happen to have been caught up in the criminal justice system to have their DNA profile retained indefinitely. In addition the current discrimination within the criminal justice system will mean that a disproportionate number of innocent people from ethnic minorities will be on the database compared with others. These people are designated primarily as suspects not citizens.

"The "solution" proposed by Alec Jeffreys of creating a database of all citizens is also of great concern. It solves the discrimination problem because it makes us all suspects. Of course it would be possible to build in safeguards to try to prevent police officers and others using the system for illegitimate purposes; but unfortunately, the evidence on unauthorised access to current computer systems suggests this will not work. We are also concerned that the ever-present pressure to be tough on crime would mean any proposed safeguards would be watered down and, over time, disappear completely.

"Why should my 89 year-old mother who has no previous convictions, never even been arrested and never ever likely to commit an offence be forced to give a sample? Currently those suspects that resist police officers who want to take samples can be held down, have their mouth forced open and have a swab inserted to collect the sample. I would guess that the opposition to such arrangements being extended to all of us would not be restricted to a small minority and would create more strife than even the Poll Tax".