BMH UK campaign - deletion of innocent records from Police National Database

This online petition is calling for a commitment from Government for ensure that the Protection of Freedoms Bill ensures that the records of all innocent people are deleted from the Police National Computer (PNC) and Police National Database (PND) at the same time that their DNA is deleted.

Unless the PNC and PND records are deleted at the same time as well as any photos, up to a million innocent people will still retain the status of a criminal.

These records can be used to refuse someone a visa or a job simply because they have a record of arrest. This can also lead to stigma and discrimination when accessed by officers on the beat.

For the past three years Black Mental Health UK has been campaigning against the way the DNA database has criminalised black Briton.

The DNA profiles of 37% of black men and 77% of young black men, aged between 15 and 34, have been estimated to be on the National DNA Database. Every black family in Britain is affected.

The way DNA has been collected also means that innocent mental health service users who are also currently profiled on the database and have been criminalised by this system, simply because they were sectioned under the Mental Health Act, when they were in need of mental health care and ended up in police custody.

Changes need to be made to the Protection of Freedoms Bill to include the deletion of innocent people’s police records and photographs at the same time as their DNA and fingerprint records.