Hang on. This sounds like the fingerprint and DNA data for people arrested and never charged.
But which the police insisted on hanging on to anyway "just in case".
Maybe it's to public benefit for it having been lost?
But which the police insisted on hanging on to anyway "just in case".
Maybe it's to public benefit for it having been lost?
The system of police cautions, warnings and fixed penalties allow the police to administer punishment with none of the due process that a court would provide.
The idea of a "police caution" is a misnomer that implies it's just harmless warning, when in fact it can affect the course of someone's life many years later.
Furthermore, people are blackmailed into accepting these cautions under the threat of going to trial and potentially receiving a more severe punishment after conviction.
Even more outrageous is the retention of records from the PREVENT programme and "non-crime hate incidents". These are people who have not even committed a crime or been arrested.
The whole system stinks, and given that most people manage to avoid interaction with the police it is sadly unlikely to get the scrutiny it deserves.
The outrageous behaviour of (some of) the police during recent lockdowns actually gives me a little hope, as it as drawn widespread attention to the way they routinely abuse their power.
This view doesn't hold when the police get you for speeding (go find real criminals)
Many police officers are quite reasonable, but then you have Derbyshire, whose actions over covid have likely killed people (by reducing compliance with lockdown orders)
The difference with the police in covid is the public are suddenly seeing that the police are dealing with normal people, not just criminal scum who should be lucky they aren't shot.
As I understood it, the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 really clamped down on DNA and fingerprint storage. Not enough, but at least it was a move in the right direction. Particularly bad was that if you were charged and found innocent, they would still keep your records for 3 years.
Unfortunately, there is an element of human nature that says, "It won't happen to me." And then maybe one day, if you're unlucky, it does happen to you. And everyone else who is similarly confident that it could never happen to them won't necessarily be there for you, because it's so far out of their experience and frame of reference that even if they're a generally decent person, they have trouble relating to the situation you're in or understanding how they might feel in your place. And so the people who are least at risk, who are often the ones who could make the most difference, don't always act as strongly or as frequently as they could to mitigate the risk to others.
It sounds like that as that is exactly what is happening - it has been decided in 2009 case (with a riveting name of "Chief Constable of Humberside Police and others v. Information Commisioner and another" [0]) that it is proper for the statutory public purpose of the Police National Computer - now replaced by Police National Database - to retain nominal records until the person in question turns 100 years of age, as introduced into the new retention policy as of 2006 [1]. Even if you have been unlawfully/wrongfully arrested, cautioned etc. your information still goes into the database but you can apply to have it expunged [2], which in practice may require support from your MP - and many simply don't know about it.
"Nominal records" in this case refer to information linked to specifc named individuals reflecting the fact they have been convicted, cautioned or reprimanded or otherwise dealth with by issue of penalty notice for disorder. It's not a "nominal" amount of data - it is quite substantial. DNA and fingerprints are supposed to be expunged from that set after three years due to "Protection of Freedoms Act 2012", rest stays.
Police National Database that replaced Police National Computer retains all data from the PNC and makes it easier to access by multiple agencies.
[0] https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06...
[1] http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://www.homeo...