How just 0.3% of solved crimes are due to DNA database
James Slack writes in the Daily Mail:
TV crime shows may have created the myth that DNA can solve almost every grisly crime – but the reality is very different.
As few as one in every 1,300 crimes reported to the police is solved by the national DNA database, according to a report released by MPs yesterday.
The research shows that – despite the massive expansion in the Government database – only 3,666 crimes are detected every year with links to an existing DNA profile.
That is one in every 1,300 of the 4.9million crimes carried out, and just one in 350, or 0.3 per cent, of the 1.3million crimes solved by police, according to the home affairs select committee.
The very low figures will come as a surprise to viewers of TV programmes such as Crimewatch, Waking the Dead and Cold Case, where DNA is often vital to cracking the case.
They will also heap new pressure on ministers over their plans to continue to store the DNA of innocent people for up to six years. Critics believe the database is another step towards a Big Brother society.
The Home Affairs Committee report can be read online here.
