YOUNG BLOOD

While the U.K.’s government works toward keeping the entire nation under constant surveillance, a police DNA databank that critics warned would become an invasive tool abused by law officers appears to have actually become just that. In efforts to catch those committing crimes in the future, police in the North London borough of Camden have been arresting teens for no reason other than to add the arrestee’s DNA to their database.

“If you have had your DNA taken and it is on a database, then you will think twice about committing burglary for a living,” explained one officer. “Have we got targets for young people who haven’t been arrested yet? The answer is yes.”

Last year, 386 people under the age of 18—some as young as 10—had their DNA added to the databank in Camden. So far this calendar year, another 169 have joined them. The unnamed officer said the arrests are part of a “long-term crime prevention strategy.”

The numbers were revealed through a Freedom of Information request made by Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Jo Shaw, who criticized police actions as having no value beyond being “a costly way of stigmatizing young people.”

by SCOTT SAXON