Tuesday, July 27, 1999 Published at 19:49 GMT 20:49 UK
Automatic DNA tests 'cut crime'
Lothian and Borders Police has begun blanket DNA testing
A police force which is the first in the UK to introduce automatic DNA testing for suspects says the scheme is proving a massive success.
Lothian and Borders Police says people arrested for all but the most minor of offences are being asked to give a sample of DNA.
A spokesman said the scheme was given the go-ahead by Chief Constable Sir Roy Cameron at the beginning of July.
He explained that anyone arrested and taken to a police station will have to give a DNA sample, but he stressed that it would not apply to the most minor breach of the peace or motoring offences.
"Say your house was broken into and my officers went to the scene and they found evidence like blood or saliva - a DNA profile can be obtained from that and compared against known offenders who are on record," he said.
"If you are an innocent person you have nothing to fear, it is only upon conviction that your DNA sample is recorded upon the database.
"If you are acquitted or found not guilty your sample, fingerprints and photograph is destroyed."
But news of the far-reaching measure provoked anger from civil liberties groups.
The Scottish Human Rights Centre said it conceded the value of DNA testing, but was worried about the safeguards in place for this scheme.
The organisation's spokesman, John Scott, said: "The powers the police are exercising should only be used in relation to very serious offenders and only in a situation where the police can properly justify it.
Derek Ogg QC, a specialist in civil liberties cases, said the scheme could not be justified.
He believes if suspects do not have to give a statement after being arrested they should not be forced to provide a DNA sample.
The force introduced the scheme after recording an increase in house break-ins and car-related crime earlier in the year.
A saliva swab is used to obtain the DNA from suspects which is destroyed if they are released without charge.
Each of the samples are then matched with material found at crime scenes.
Advances in technology have enabled police forensic scientists to make a DNA match on evidence as small as a single hair or a piece of dandruff.
In the past only a sample of blood would do.