A British government agency is telling the EU court system to sod off.
Normally, this would be cause for celebration.
This is not one of those times.
Chief constables across England and Wales have been told to ignore a landmark ruling by the European court of human rights and carry on adding the DNA profiles of tens of thousands of innocent people to a national DNA database.
Senior police officers have also been “strongly advised” that it is “vitally important” that they resist individual requests based on the Strasbourg ruling to remove DNA profiles from the national database in cases such as wrongful arrest, mistaken identity, or where no crime has been committed.
European human rights judges ruled last December in the S and Marper case that the blanket and indiscriminate retention of the DNA profiles and fingerprints of 850,000 people arrested but never convicted of any offence amounts to an unlawful breach of their rights.
Britain already has the largest police national DNA database in the world, with 5.8m profiles, including one in three of all young black males. Thousands more are being added each week.
So far the Home Office has responded to the judgment by proposing a controversial package to keep DNA profiles of the innocent for six to 12 years, depending on the seriousness of the offence. The official consultation period ended today.
“DNA profiles of the innocent.”
They want to keep a physical recognition record of citizens whom their justice system has judged to be not guilty of any breach of law, and they even offer a reason as to why. Next they’ll probably be asking other British citizens to email them information on those who disagree with this policy or something.
Can you say “Police State”?
I knew you could.
Doesn’t sound a lot different than how we do it in these Younighty States.