The politically motivated ACPO are at it again. Gary Pugh, the Yard’s director of forensic services who was recently appointed DNA spokesman of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said:

Primary school children should be eligible for the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating they may become criminals in later life, according to Britain's most senior police forensics expert.

Gary Pugh, director of forensic sciences at Scotland Yard and the new DNA spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said a debate was needed on how far Britain should go in identifying potential offenders, given that some experts believe it is possible to identify future offending traits in children as young as five.

'If we have a primary means of identifying people before they offend, then in the long-term the benefits of targeting younger people are extremely large,' said Pugh. 'You could argue the younger the better. Criminologists say some people will grow out of crime; others won't. We have to find who are possibly going to be the biggest threat to society.'


This is sick. Sick and Immoral.

It reminds of how policemen and scientists promised Hitler they could identify Jews in the 1930's. The infamous Jewish profiling.

Just what kind of sick country do we now live in.

As Mr Eugenides writes:
Every time I worry that making references to Orwell is hopelessly overblown and likely just to turn people off, these bastards find a way to up the ante. But, as Tim points out, there is a slightly more up to date cultural reference at work here. And even in Philip K Dick's story, the three "precogs" weren't always able to agree on the identity of the perpetrators - hence the title, "The Minority Report".

Anyway, where do you draw the line? If you're identifying the "biggest threats to society", are there any factors that you don't feel comfortable using to pre-screen children? Why don't we just put all black people on the database, Gary? What's that? You're already doing that? Well, isn't that nice. How inclusive of you. No second-class citizens here.

How about sticking all Muslims on the database? That'll do wonders for community cohesion. Perhaps Premiership footballers might have DNA swabs taken after matches as part of a high-profile advertising drive. The next time some unfortunate slapper is gang-banged in a London hotel, you'll track down the culprits in no time.

So I will say it again, Its Sick and Immoral.
People of this ilk who call themselves 'Policemen' have no place in civilised society. I now question who the real criminals are, as proposals such as this are clearly criminal in intent.

'We have to find who are possibly going to be the biggest threat to society.' Well Mr Pugh, as things stand at the moment, it is clearly people like you and the ACPO.

Pugh, though, believes that measures to identify criminals early would save the economy huge sums - violent crime alone costs the UK £13bn a year - and significantly reduce the number of offences committed.
Ah, that's it then. Just what is the price of Freedom?.

I finish with a quote:

The minute the FBI begins making recommendations on what should be done with its information, it becomes a Gestapo. --- J. Edgar Hoover