Civil rights concerns over DNA

There are civil rights concerns over National's plans to extend the use of DNA to catch criminals.

The party has proposed DNA samples could be taken from anyone arrested for any crime which carries a prison sentence. Leader John Key says the samples and records would be destroyed in cases where charges are dropped or a person is found not guilty.

But the former director of Victoria University's Crime and Research Unit Gabrielle Maxwell is not convinced. She says there is no guarantee the promise would be fulfilled, because there is past evidence of records not being destroyed from police files when they should have been.

Dr Maxwell says the current practice of not keeping records of people merely because of suspicion, is appropriate. She says if police want co-operation and trust from the public, they must not treat everyone as criminals.

Dr Maxwell says we want a society where collaboration between the police and citizens is the norm.

- NewstalkZB