Fergie's Tech Blog

UK Government 'Lost' DNA Data Disc On 2,000 Criminal Suspects

Siobhan Chapman writes on ComputerWorld UK:

The government is being urged to explain why a data disc, containing DNA profiles of 2,000 offenders whom the Dutch authorities wished to trace had been missing for almost a year.

The latest data controversy to hit the government came about after the Dutch authorities tried to track down 2,000 Dutch citizens who were on the run after committing serious crimes. In January 2007, they sent a disc containing the DNA samples of the offenders to Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to be checked against the national DNA database.

But, the disc was not acted upon and possibly mislaid for a year before being found and sent to the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA), the overseer of the DNA database. The checks started this month and 15 matches have been found, including 11 who have committed further crimes in Britain during the past year.

posted by Fergie @ 2/20/2008 07:29:00 PM