Will my son be taken away?

The email to the MP took ages and I also took the liberty of copying the professor hailed as "the father of genetic finger printing" into my email to him.

The latter has been cited in The Guardian as saying "My genome is my property. It is not the state's. I will allow the state access to that genome under very strict circumstances. It is an issue of my personal genetic privacy," he said. "I have met some [innocent] people who are on the database and are really distressed by the fact. They feel branded as criminals and I would feel branded as a criminal." Here is the article in full:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/apr/15/jeffreys-dna-database-human-rights-police

Should anyone else find themselves in the same boat, here are links to some of the more useful web material:

http://reclaimyourdna.org/ specifically http://reclaimyourdna.org/further-information/children/

http://www.cond.org.uk/

http://www.yjb.gov.uk/en-gb/yjs/Home.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/27/dna-database-children-criminal-record

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/mar/16/youthjustice.children

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1205867/300-children-day-added-DNA-database-400-000-15s-Big-Brother-roll.html

Yesterday was my birthday but the stress of the police thing and the WFI thing meant no celebrations. There was just too much to do and, as much as I hate it, these days I seem to have little time to do anything other than fight for our rights to exist and to protect my family :o(

Last weekend was written off by the theft of my son's beloved (saved-up for over several months) mobile phone from the house by two of his so-called "best friends". We got it back but the other parents were very bloody-minded about it. The whole thing made me feel sick inside. On that occasion it was my son's father who emerged the hero as I was getting absolutely nowhere alone so, at my wit's end, phoned him up and gibbered down the phone. He drove over here and took over and, being a man, his words seemed to carry more strength than mine. Sadly other parents DO take advantage and try to go in for the kill if they are dealing with a single parent. Sometimes back-up is essential! :o) Crikey, it is blooming hard work being a single parent in these times!!

Hmmm, I'm eyeing up this evening's local Xmas lantern festival.... so the weather had better behave!!

The MP's advisor got back to me and said that the police can simply take DNA now, following a 2007 change in the law.

I have been considerably cheered by the supportive reply from Professor Jeffreys who furnished me with 2 excellent links:
http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?item=1&portal=hbkm&action=html&highlight=DNA&sessionid=39730277&skin=hudoc-en
and
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/news-and-events/1-press-releases/2008/04-12-2008-retaining-dna-samples-of-innocents-breaches-human-rights.shtml

The first link is a landmark case taken to the European Court of Human Rights in December 2008: "The applicants complained under Articles 8 and 14 that the authorities had continued to retain their fingerprints and cellular samples and DNA profiles after the criminal proceedings against them had ended with an acquittal or had been discontinued." It discusses and answers many of the same questions I have myself asked.

Another very useful link which prints off in word format
http://www.archrights.org.uk/docs/ndnad.doc

My son had a dental filling booked for this week on the same day as the police appointment, so the latter has been postponed until January with little fuss. The PC I spoke to was reassuring about how my son would be dealt with regarding the reprimand. Once given it is immediately "spent" and does not have to be declared on future job applications.

I shall be phoning Liberty (as recommended by Prof Jeffreys) tonight as they have human rights legal advisors available on Monday evenings to give advice over the phone. My argument now concerns the legality of the taking of genetic samples from children, when the retention of such samples has already been ruled against. Basically, why take them in the first place on such dubious grounds?

See http://www.out-law.com/default.aspx?page=7945 "DNA database 'will span most of the UK population'", if you want to understand the full implications.

I'd never call the Samaritans as it is an 0845 number, which can work out quite costly if you are on a budget and every penny counts. Annoyingly, the police number is also 0845, as is the Liberty legal advice line. None of them are on the saynoto0870 website.

I phoned the Liberty line every 10 minutes on the 3 sessions it was open and only ever got a recorded message saying it was busy and to call back later. I am dreading next months phone bill as it would have cost me to hear that. Would have been better to have just got an engaged tone, dammit! Finally I got a message saying the line was closed for Xmas and won't reopen until January 4th --- too late for me as the boy gets DNAed on the 6th. I'm going to try the sayno2id people and see if they have any advice.