Police child DNA swabs 'excessive'

20 May 2013 Last updated at 11:49 ET

Police in England and Wales have taken DNA samples from children every 10 minutes, figures obtained using freedom of information requests suggest.

The Howard League for Penal Reform said officers taking 120,000 DNA swabs during 2010 and 2011 was "excessive".

Police said samples were taken from victims and witnesses and in paternity cases as well as from suspects.

But the Howard League argued that "overwhelmingly" the children were suspects, not victims.

The Howard League, which submitted freedom of information requests to every police service in England and Wales, said officers took DNA swabs from almost 54,000 children in 2011, including swabs from at least 368 10-year-olds and 1,030 11-year-olds.

It should be an extraordinary intervention for police to take the DNA from a child

On average, officers therefore took samples from 27 primary school-aged children each week. Overall, the samples were mainly taken from boys, who accounted for about 70% of the swabs.

Howard League chief executive Frances Crook said: "When public money is tight and police forces are shrinking, it is disappointing to see valuable crime-fighting resources being wasted on taking DNA samples from thousands of innocent children while serious offences go undetected.

"Children who get into trouble with the police are usually just up to mischief."

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Police child DNA swabs 'excessive'