Kia's World

Just read this BBC article.

Starts well:

"DNA profiles of those not convicted of a crime should be removed from the database in England and Wales, a government-funded inquiry has said.

Control of the database should be taken from government and police and given to an independent body, the inquiry urged.

Javed Aslam, one of the 30 panel members on the Citizen's Inquiry, said keeping the records would be "the first step towards a totalitarian state".

But the Home Office said the database helps to secure convictions.

The UK has the largest police DNA database in the world - with more than four million people on file. "

What is more interesting - is the bit at the end:

"A spokeswoman said it welcomes an "open discussion on the issue of how the National DNA Database is used".

However, she said it provides the police on average with almost 3,500 DNA matches each month and is a "key" instrument in the fight against violent crime, burglaries and rape.

She added that, in a 12-month period between 2006 and 2007, DNA evidence had been used in police investigations into 644 rapes, 222 other sexual offences, 1,900 violent crimes and more than 8,500 domestic burglaries. "

Now - this is interesting, for a start "almost 3,500 DNA matches each month" that is 42000 a year (this figure will be needed later - I am going somewhere with this - honest). Then the last line states "DNA evidence had been used in police investigations" - It does not state that ANY crimes have be solved - just that DNA has been used in "investigations" - but, more interestingly, lets sum all those crimes up - between 2006 - 2007 DNA evidence was "used" in 11266 investigations - but hold on I hear you cry - just one sentence ago you stated that the police got 3500 matches per month (42000 a year) - so, of those 42000 'matchs' per year only about a quarter are used in "investigations".

To sum up: Why are the police running 30734 DNA tests per year that have NOTHING to do with investigations?