Police to keep DNA of the innocent for up to 12 years

The DNA profiles of people cleared of crimes, or never charged with an offence, are to be held on a police database for up to 12 years before they are removed. This is the ruling proposed by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in what is seen as "two fingers" to the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled last year that the "blanket" retention of "innocent DNA" on the database for England, Wales and Northern Ireland was illegal.

It was widely expected that the DNA profiles, samples and fingerprints of around 850,000 innocent people would be destroyed after the European ruling in December. But under Jacqui Smith's proposal, the details of innocent people who are arrested but not convicted of minor offences will be kept for six years. And in cases of more serious violent and sexual crime, 'innocent' DNA will be kept for 12 years.
 
The proposal would also apply to children from age 10 who are arrested but never successfully prosecuted. The DNA profiles and fingerprints of those convicted of an imprisonable offence will be retained indefinitely and juvenile offenders would have their records deleted when they reach 18 only if they were arrested for one minor offence.
 
Human rights groups and opposition politicians predict a court challenge to the new policy. Writing for The First Post in April, David Pollard, whose DNA is held in relation to the murder of his partner 40 years ago, says misuse of the database is "indefensible".

The European court ruling said the policy of allowing police to retain a genetic profile of suspects was indiscriminate, and did not differentiate between criminals and people who had never been convicted. Critics said it "blurred" the distinction between the guilty and innocent.
 
Liberty's Shami Chakrabarti said the new rules would keep the UK "massively out of step with the rest of the world".
 
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said: "Ministers are just trying to get away with as little as they can instead of taking action to remove innocent people from the database." While Lib Dem Chris Huhne added that the number of innocent people on the database had risen to 925,000 since December's ruling. ·