In response to Jonathan Montgomery, Human Genetics Commission chair, who said that "function creep" over the years had transformed the national DNA database of offenders into one of suspects, the Green Party’s Home Affairs spokesperson and member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, Jenny Jones, said:
"I will again challenge the Met on their failure to stop unnecessary additions to this sprawling database. More than a year after the ruling from the European Court of Human Rights, they still need to prepare for the deletion of innocent peoples’ samples, and streamline the process of deletion for innocent people who want their samples deleted now.
"Turning three quarters of young black men into suspects will only make police work with those communities harder, rather than aiding investigations as the Met claims.
"The Mayor needs to speak out on this issue, and join me in calling for the Met to end this waste of public money."
In October, figures obtained by Jenny Jones revealed that the Met added 96,471 samples to the DNA database between August 2008 and September 2009 at a cost of £3m.
During that period, 316 people have requested that their sample is deleted, with 76 requests so far authorised (0.08% of the total samples taken).
The Mayor chairs the Metropolitan Police Authority, responsible for setting the police budget.