Jon Bright (London, OK): Noticed this in the Metro yesterday - Darren Nixon, a 28 year old mechanic from Stoke-on-Trent, was arrested mistakenly by a police firearms unit, who believed he was carrying a gun (it turned out to be a black iPod). The police had been phoned by a commuter, and can hardly be blamed for sending a firearms unit if someone dials 999 and says there's a gun involved. But he has, of course, been given the regulation DNA swab and fingerprinting - details of which are immediately added to our burgeoning DNA database - and furthermore, if the Metro is correct, his record will always reflect that he was arrested on suspicion of a firearms offence, all of which makes for uneasy reading for anyone worried about the advance of the 'database state' in this country.
Darren Nixon added to the database
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Comments
Saw this post. My name is Kevin Reynolds and I currently have a nominal PNC record for MURDER in “Blenheim Crescent”. This relates to someone I had never even heard of in my entire life called "Sally Bowman". Despite having no idea who on earth this person is I now have a permanent police computer record claiming I was arrested for murder of this person? The current situation with the retention of these false records is absolutely ridiculous
I have recently met my local MP Lynne Featherstone who is going to ask for this nominal record to be removed. I advise anyone who has been wrongfully arrested to do the same. Further details are on David Mery’s site which is here: http://gizmonaut.net/bits/suspect.html#action and http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/07/delete_your_dna_profile/
My case is here: http://gizmonaut.net/images/kr_dna.jpg
http://gizmonaut.net/blog/uk/dna_retention_of_unconvicted_people.html
If you have been wrongfully arrested you can ask for the information to be removed. I would think this is particularly significant to this chap as he now has a firearms incident attached to his name for using an I-pod.
Best wishes
K Reynolds
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