By
Chris Greenwood
Last updated at 3:09 PM on 17th June 2011
It is hoped the national police database will stop criminals like killer caretaker Ian Huntley slipping through the net
A quarter of the population will have their names logged on a new national police database.
Due to go live next week, the Police National Database is being loaded with up to 15million records of criminals, suspects and victims.
Created in the wake of the Soham murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in 2002, it is hoped the database will stop criminals like killer caretaker Ian Huntley slipping through the net.
But it is feared that ordinary members of the public could find their personal details are logged alongside those of murderers, rapists and burglars.
One critic said chief constables must give a ‘cast iron guarantee’ that the names of the innocent will not be stored on the database.
Forces that will contribute to it include the 43 in England and Wales, the eight in Scotland, British Transport Police and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
It will include the estimated six million people with criminal convictions, suspects, and some victims.
The database was recommended by Sir Michael Bichard, whose 2004 report into the Soham murders concluded that police intelligence must be ‘centralised’.
Police came under fire when it emerged that Huntley secured a job at a school in Soham after moving from Humberside to Cambridgeshire despite being investigated for rape and having sex with an underage girl.
Sir Michael called for a shared national police intelligence system to be set up ‘as a priority’ but progress has been slowed by technical hurdles and in-fighting over how it should be run.
The National Policing Improvement Agency, which runs the £75million database, said it will also include the names of those linked to crime, but not witnesses.
Victims of sex crime and child abuse, as well as details of vulnerable people, may also be retained.
Senior officers said its scope has already led them to identify a child at risk of a paedophile, new details of missing sex offenders and information about a known crime gang.
Daniel Hamilton, director of Big Brother Watch, said: ‘It’s staggering to think that a quarter of the British population could be logged on the national police database.
‘Ordinary members of the public should not have their personal details logged in this way.’
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if you got NOTHING TO HIDE there is nothing wrong with the police holding this imformation you.
– disgusted taxpayer, manchester==========But if you have nothing to hide why do they want you on this database?
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The Innocents and Victims should not be stored. The new ‘Freedom Bill’ due to become law early next year should put a halt to a number of ‘Database-Creep activities’.
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So much for CAMERON’s big society all it means is your name will be on a database and its not the open society he promised.What a shock Cameron has lied again.
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A few years ago, I was phoned by the Police, and asked to attend the station to give evidence. A crime had been committed, and I was in the area at the time ( I was working in that particular street that day. )
I told the police what I knew, (not much ), and was then told that I had been excluded from their enquiries.
HOWEVER ! I was not allowed to leave the station without first giving a DNA sample, having my fingerprints taken, and photographed. “Just routine” I was told.
So there you are….I’m on a police database, and I have never broken the law.
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So what! I know my name is on the National Database, along with my address and contact details.
I also have been cleared by the |CRB for work with vulnerable adults and children……….. I have no criminal record at all………….. However, I have worked for the Police on several confidential projects……….
There are actually advantages to being “on record”. A simple mention of name when making an emergency call and nearly all the tiresome preamble is skipped……….and my calls have yet to be ignored………
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I am on the Police database as I am a Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator. No criminal convictions required.
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