If you are innocent, you have nothing to fear. If you have your DNA taken and stored by the Police, it's only so they can rule you out as a suspect on future issues. If you spend a few days in jail, it's for your safety and the safety of the public. So what's the problem? Maybe nothing. Or maybe Nanny has a Big Brother.
On one hand, the Police have to check out suspicious acts, and we never hear exactly why Clarke became a person of interest. Surely though, grabbing him and checking his phone for photos would have been enough? At least they didn't just shoot him like the last terror suspect. Small mercies and all that.
The police hypersensitivity is debatable, but Stephen Clarke raises a fair point. Not charged, so they should drop his DNA record.
I see the idea of managing everyone's DNA in New Zealand pop up fairly often, around the time Dr Kiro, nearly ex-Children's Commissioner, bangs on about getting a national database tracking every child. Dreary stuff.
And why is it police are good at arresting people who are probably guilty of loitering at the wrong time? Does anyone have any stories where video surveillance lead to the arrest and capture of violent thugs bashing some poor person? Do the muggings just move to different alley ways?
Related Link from Boing Boing: Sewer Police Grate on Citizen Rights
On one hand, the Police have to check out suspicious acts, and we never hear exactly why Clarke became a person of interest. Surely though, grabbing him and checking his phone for photos would have been enough? At least they didn't just shoot him like the last terror suspect. Small mercies and all that.
The police hypersensitivity is debatable, but Stephen Clarke raises a fair point. Not charged, so they should drop his DNA record.
I see the idea of managing everyone's DNA in New Zealand pop up fairly often, around the time Dr Kiro, nearly ex-Children's Commissioner, bangs on about getting a national database tracking every child. Dreary stuff.
And why is it police are good at arresting people who are probably guilty of loitering at the wrong time? Does anyone have any stories where video surveillance lead to the arrest and capture of violent thugs bashing some poor person? Do the muggings just move to different alley ways?
Related Link from Boing Boing: Sewer Police Grate on Citizen Rights
The legislation isn't really about catching criminals--it's about controlling the population.
ReplyDeleteGiven enough of these laws (over 3000 in the past ten years in Britain)the ordinary citizen is placed in the position where he can never be sure if he's in breach of a law.
Which gives governments and their goons virtually unlimited power--we stay free only at the discretion of bureaucrats and politicians.
The clip did say why police questioned and arrested Mr Clarke - they claimed he had taken a photo of a sealed-off drainage grill, which police considered suspicious as the grill had been sealed as a security measure for a Labour party conference.
ReplyDeleteBut the police claim rings hollow when they refused to back up their claim by saying if they found any such image of a grill on the poor beggar's cellphone, memory stick or home computer.
Labour in NZ and Australia have traditionally been more likely to ram through draconian spy and police powers - possibly because they are supposed to be a party that protects human rights. Of course, National & Act have not repealed any of said draconian powers. But Britain is now truly the closest thing to a police state in the OECD.
KG is right - these horrific police powers to take DNA and detain without charge (up to 42 days in UK, from memory) are all about making the populace compliant. All the more reason not to be ;)
Oh, and the police who shot the Brazilian electrician on the London tube were never prosecuted - despite all the CCTV and eyewitnesses (who immediately proved the police lied to cover up their blatant murder of an innocent man).
In NZ, police keep the DNA forever - they are up to around 17,000 people on their database.
And the Bodily Samples Bill currently up for public submissions would allow police here to forcibly take a DNA sample from you, even if they just SUSPECT you of an imprisonable crime... That bill should be subject of a bigger campaign than the S92A copyright law, if we don't all want to end up like Stephen Clarke.