§ 2. Mr. CongdonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what initiatives his Department has taken to maximise the use of new technology in the fight against crime. [13850]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Mr. David Maclean)There are many exciting initiatives, including the world's first national DNA database, the national strategy for police information systems, the closed circuit television challenge competition and major projects providing national automated fingerprint identification and radio systems.
§ Mr. CongdonMay I very much welcome that answer and especially the DNA database, which I understand now has 20,000 items on it? Does my right hon. Friend agree that that will play an increasingly valuable part in the fight against crime by ensuring that we get convictions? Can he assure me that he will continue to ignore the advice from those in the civil liberties lobby and elsewhere who are soft on crime and soft on the causes of crime?
§ Mr. MacleanThe DNA technology is the greatest breakthrough since fingerprints. It is wonderful technology and it has been provided to the British police service. It is a world leader and a world first. It is no wonder that the New York police commissioner recently told me that Britain was light years ahead of our competitors in the use of police technology.
§ Mr. SheermanDoes the Minister agree that there are problems in using the new technology in the pursuit of crime? Does he share my horror at hearing that someone who had had more than $500,000 transferred out of an account with a company in this country cannot find a police force to prosecute the perpetrator because no one can decide whose is the responsibility or in which police authority area it lies?
§ Mr. MacleanAny time we introduce a world first technology, there are bound to be some teething problems. The DNA database is building up perfectly well. It is having some fantastic successes, which will become more 1124 public when cases currently before the courts are no longer sub judice. We have wonderful technology that is catching thousands of criminals up and down the country—CCTV is a good example. The people in the forefront of its development are shopkeepers and retailers, but there is no point catching all the criminals in the shops if the Leader of the Opposition says shoplifting is just putting a treat in their pockets. He does not believe in the stakeholder society but in the excuse makers' society.