DNA of four million on UK DNA database: biggest in world

This is depressing news: UK DNA database biggest in world (link via itpro.co.uk) The DNA of some four million UK citizens is held on a database, making it the biggest per capita in the world, according to a new report by a policing agency. The first annual report from the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) has shown that as of March 2007 some 3.8 million people have a record on the DNA database, following a record jump in the number of new samples. Some 722,000 were added last year. Nearly 80 per cent of the records are for men, with 41 per cent aged 15-24. Even kids are in the mix, with eight per cent of the records for people aged under 14, the report showed. And I wish the people who believe in and support the DNA database would pay attention to this: While the report admitted that DNA doesn’t actually solve that many crimes, it stressed it is a “powerful contributor” when it can be used.