If you are innocent, then you have nothing to fear???

As background to the linked article: "Arrested, caged and DNA tested - for using MP3"

The Government could not get permission to have a DNA database of everyone, but people did not object to criminals being recorded. That, we were promised, was so very useful. And so it is, BUT that does not get us all recorded in their database, SO the government decided to amend the laws in two subtle ways.

1. The taking of DNA (which used to be only permitted when a criminal was convicted), was then to be allowed at the time of arrest.
2. Every crime, no matter how minor, was changed to become an arrestable offence.
   

Previously, dropping litter would be a very minor offence. If you where caught dropping litter by the police, you may have been cautioned at worst. There was no need to waste police time taking people to the police station to arrest them and deal with all the paperwork and associated expense. With these subtle changes in the law, everything changed.

From dropping litter, to shouting in the street, to any other 'made up on the spur of the moment' charge then became an arrestable offence. All the police would have to do is arrest you on "any" charge, take you to the station, get your DNA, then spend hours filling in a load of paperwork showing that this offence fits in some target crime category, including why the suspect is now being released because the crime has been solved, to make their statistics look better, (so that the Chief Constable can "earn" his £15,000 ($30,000) bonus), then let you go.

You are totally innocent, but have acquired a police record of being arrested for some "crime" and the state have legally added you to their DNA database.

So much for being innocent and having nothing to fear, eh? The way the system has been changed, nobody is considered innocent anymore, we are ALL becoming suspects.