DNA Cops Crack Down on Flower Theft and Other High Crimes

Don't carry salmon around if something doesn't feel right. Never lie to a girl to get her number. And if you’re riding a horse in the street, make sure you’re not doing it “furiously.” These rules seem ludicrous, inane, and irrelevant—and they are—but in the UK, breaking any of them is enough to get your genetic information stored in the the national DNA database—for life. The UK's DNA database was established in 1995 to store the genetic information of convicted criminals so police could easily pick up re-offenders. This seems like a reasonable idea, but over the past decade the threshold of having to hand over your DNA has pretty much disintegrated. In 2001, it became legal to keep the DNA of those acquitted of crimes, and in 2004, police could get their hands on the DNA of anyone arrested for a recordable offense, or who had been detained at ...