Black police officers' group slams DNA figures

A black police officers' group has called for an investigation into the national DNA database, after a report suggested that black people were over-represented on the system.

According to research conducted by the 'Guardian' newspaper, 37% of all black men are included on the database, compared to 9% of white men. However, overall only 7% of male profiles are black, while 82% are white.

Last April, the law was changed to allow DNA samples taken from anyone who was arrested to be held on the database, even if they are never charged or subsequently acquitted of a charge.

Keith Jarrett, president of the National Black Police Association, described the figures as worrying. He said that they did not mean that more black people committed more crimes, citing stop-and-search figures, which indicated that black people were likely to be subjected to searches than white people.

The Home Office said that the Guardian's figures, which were compiled using data from the DNA database and the 2001 census, could be misleading, because the statistics were not comparable.

The report led to calls from black human rights group, the 1990 Trust, for the new legislation to be scrapped on human rights grounds.

On Wednesday, the Home Office published figures, which showed that the number of profiles added to the DNA database, had trebled in the last five years to over 3 million.

The Home Office also said that the number of crimes solved through the use of DNA had quadrupled over the last five years.

(KMcA)