Half of black Britain on track for DNA database
Half of all black British males are destined to become records on the police National DNA Database by 2010, according to an analysis of government figures by the Liberal Democrats.
If you count only men of an arrestable age, 68 per cent of them will have been nabbed and dabbed by the police by 2010. Just 14.4 per cent of white males are expected to be on the DNA database in the same time.
Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell used the figures to raise a question about the "disproportionate" targeting of non-white people by police, or "racial profiling", by which people's behaviours are stereotyped according to the colour of their skin.
The extent of errors on the DNA database, and the number of children contained on it, are also problems that are putting the National Police Improvement Agency, the authority responsible for its upkeep, on the defensive.
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