Finger Prints for eliminaiton

[NOX]

Hi I was wondering if anyone can advise me of the law regarding the taking of finger prints for eliminaiton purposes please? My son works in a shop where several items were stolen- he has an item still which he knows the culprit touched and advised the police accordingly and they now obviously want to take his fingerprints to eliminate them from the culprits. That's all fine and straightforward and not a problem. My question relates to whether my son's prints will then be destroyed and taken off the police data base once this has been done, or do they stay on there for good. Does anyone know please? Many thanks in advance.

[bednobs]

hi nox, i dn't know but i'm sure they'd tell him if he asked. If he knows who the culprit was, how will fingerprints help?

[NOX]

He works in a phone shop and essentially what happened was some bloke came in asked to look at a certain type of phone then asked to look at some more and whilst he was fetching the others pocketed the first ones, then waited til he came back with the others looked at em and just said no thanks and walzed out of the shop. My son immediately realised when he picked the first boxes up what had happened but he'd legged it. He handled all of them including the last one that my son showed him, but so did my son, so presumably the police want to identify which set of prints is which? Can't see the value in doing that though myself, but my son has no objection to giving his prints since he has nothing to hide (his manager etc was present and other staff so plenty realised what happened) I just don't like the idea of anyone's DNA or prints being kept limitlessly on file.

[bednobs]

oh i see, sorry, i assumed the person worked there.

[NOX]

No just some very cheeky s0d whose got more nerve than most. The police said it had happened in several phone shops locally so he seems to be off pat with his technique.lol

[snowyball]

hey nox, sorry but i dont know the answer to your question, but i just wanted to say i like your snowman :0)

[dotty.]

I'd be surprised if they could life a set of any quality from a box that several people could have handled, but if they put some effort in by studying CCTV they could identify the suspect.
I think it would be good that they keep his prints, it will eliminate him in the future if it happens againl,

[NOX]

Thanks snowy, sad but true:-)
I was thinking dotty that lots of people could have handled the box and even the phone within it, but i gather it's happened a lot locally so i'm guessing theyre trying to mach up prints to elsewhere as well and are ruling out the innocent as they go but they don't have CCTV in his shop, how weird is that in this day and age? I know what you mean but I despise the idea of the police keeping info if people haven't done anything wrong, it just grates on me.

[dotty.]

There'll be CCTV somewhere close by, but what's the betting the cops take bas of no notice, they do that when it;s shop theft with no immediate apprehension, I get it all the time at work, they're undermanned and don't put any importance on theft from high street stores who factor in the loss anyway,

[Hopkirk]

The cops can have my fingerprints if they like, and keep them forever.

They can have a DNA sample aswell if they want.

Why does everyone care so much about this?

[NOX]

Yeah there is CCTV on the High St which is where this is. My lad ran outside because it was only moments after the guy had left he realised but he couldn't see him and it certainly does seem to be a common thing that the police take no action about anything to do with theft from a business. They didn't do a damned thing when one of my places was rolled- could hardly be bothered to come out in fact.
With regard to not allowing the police to hold DNA/ finger prints on the innocent- most people are worried about it because it's an invasion of their privacy and despite wishing it were otherwise sometimes the police themselves are not to be trusted.
'Who watches the watchers' as they say.

[Hopkirk]

That's just paranoia

[NOX]

Actually Hopkirk no it's not- that's experience. I went to prison a long time ago for something I did do, I also went to prison at the same time for about half a dozen things I didn't do and they knew I didn't do- so no it's not paranoia, it's a fact.

[Hopkirk]

We obviously move in different circles.

[NOX]

Yes you're obviously naieve and I'm obviously not.
You asked for my reasons for thinking something and I told you, now where is your argument to counter my argument that the police are sometimes corrupt- or perhaps you are forgetting that that is an offence as well, or is it okay if the police themselves break the law?

[NOX]

Thanks EDDIE, I thought that might be the case, they seem awfully keen on getting the prints and DNA from as many people as possible whenever they can so I doubted they then had to go to all the trouble of destroying them- but thanks for the definate info;-)