WRITTEN ON August 8th, 2009 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Foundation of Trust, What do we want?

Oh blimey (Guardian)

Chief constables across England and Wales have been told to ignore a landmark ruling by the European court of human rights and carry on adding the DNA profiles of tens of thousands of innocent people to a national DNA database. Senior police officers have also been “strongly advised” that it is “vitally important” that they resist individual requests based on the Strasbourg ruling to remove DNA profiles from the national database in cases such as wrongful arrest, mistaken identity, or where no crime has been committed…

It’s bad enough when you see poice cars speeding for no apparent reason, parked illegally, or (as I did yesterday) taking up the area reserved for bicycles at traffic lights. But this is far from Ideal.

Wibbi we all worked together to increase respect for the law. Wibbi the police routinely obeyed the law. Wibbi chief constables insisted they obeyed the law, and ignored or challenged instructions to the contrary. Wibbi no-one (ACPO? Ho’ Moffice? Home Secretary?) asked the police to disregard a clear legal ruling.

This is basic stuff. We’ve got an “official fibbing/bad stats” category, but maybe we need a Judge Dredd “Obey or die” category. Or “Submit to the will of the people”.