Two other well known systems spring to mind that archive property. The Transport for London Lost Property Office and the Police DNA database both archive and store material that belongs to someone else.

The TFL Lost Property Office recently celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2009. Each year it deals with around 200,000 items, left on London’s transport systems.

Their usual fare is a mixture of lost books (36,852 lost last year), bags (28,550) and items of clothing (27,174).[1] Although they also deal with the unusual, which last year included a stuffed puffer fish, human skulls, breast implants and a lawnmower.

The lost property office is based on Baker Street. They are proud of their detective connections, both in the location (right next door to where Sherlock Holmes fictionally lived) and the detective work they do to try and reunite items with their rightful owners. Their computer system is even called ‘Sherlock’.

Property not claimed after three months, and not containing any personal data, is either donated to charity or sold at auction, with all revenue generated contributing towards the cost of running the LPO service.

On to the police and DNA...

The National Police DNA Database is the largest database of its kind in the world. By the end of 2005 it held DNA samples of 5.2% of the population, totalling 3.4 million profiles [2].

English and Welsh Law is unique in allowing the police to take samples without consent from anyone who is arrested on suspicion of committing an offence, irrelevant of if they are charged or not. This covers all but the simplest of crimes [4]. These samples are held indefinitely.

The DNA database is a useful resource for the police and a powerful tool for solving serious crimes and deterring criminals. In a typical month, matches are found linking suspects to 30 murders, 45 rapes and 3,200 motor vehicle, property and drug crimes.[3]

DNA does not only identify individuals, it also allows an insight into an individuals genetic make up, their family connections, their health and future health problems. As technology advances, the amount of information that can be recovered from DNA will increase. By holding on to DNA, all samples could potentially be subjected to scrutiny by new techniques.

Thousands of samples of DNA from innocent people exist on this list as ‘potential suspects’ for future crimes.

Is this right?

Surely - if you’ve done nothing wrong, you’ve got nothing to fear?

If that is the case, then why not take DNA samples directly from babies as they are born? We would eventually have a searchable database of all British born individuals, from which criminals could easily be identified.

Something about this suggestion is inherently wrong. It shifts the ownership of the very building blocks we are made up of (our DNA) from the individual and the family, to the state.

Maybe, like the Lost Property Office, innocent individuals should be able to simply ‘claim’ back the DNA they carelessly mislaid, which ended up lost to the database[5].

1. http://www.wired-gov.net/wg/wg-news-1.nsf/0/F0F9AF8E6C1A7A4280257641002F...
2. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/science-research/using-science/dna-database/
3. The National DNA Database, Balancing Crime Detection, Human Rights and Privacy A Report by GeneWatch UK, p.5
4. The National DNA Database, Balancing Crime Detection, Human Rights and Privacy A Report by GeneWatch UK, p.5
5. It is possible to ask for your DNA to be removed from the database, but it is not a straight forward procedure.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/26/dna_database_removal/