The MET police are being called on to delete inappropriate personalrecords that may be stored on their database, following a landmarkruling from the Information Tribunal that police are breaking the rulesin terms of the personal data they are holding onto. Jenny Jones, aGreen Party Member of the London Assembly, will raise this issue at thenext Mayor’s Question Time and ask for pressure to be placed on the MET.
Thousands of records of minor crimes are being held by police forcesacross the country, despite the fact that many of the offences werecommitted over 20 years ago. In fact, under current police policy anindividual’s criminal record can be stored on a computer for 100 years.A conviction for a minor offence, such as shoplifting as a teenager, cantherefore be disclosed to potential employers years later.
Government advisory body, the Ethics Group has also stated that holdingthe DNA details of people who are never charged or convicted of anoffence (which many police forces currently do) may be a breach of humanrights laws.
Jenny commented:"I would like to see the MET taking the lead in this area and destroyingthe unnecessary records it holds, such as the DNA samples of innocentpeople, including many children, as well as details of trivial offencescommitted many years ago. Holding on to this information is an unfairinvasion of the privacy of ordinary Londoners and does not help foster arelationship of trust between the police and the communities theyserve."