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| Britain |
| DNA Databases Already Being Abused |
| 2005-05-17 |
| Parking attendants are being given DNA swabs to help identify motorists who spit at them. Saliva samples will be analysed in a laboratory and cross-checked against millions of DNA profiles on the police national computer. A match could bring prosecution for common assault. Hundreds of the £1 "spit kits" are being handed out to the 250 attendants in Westminster this week in a trial backed by contractor NCP. The £200-a-time cost of the DNA checks will be met by the police. The scheme is expected to be rolled out across London if it proves a success. The move comes after the Evening Standard revealed last week that police are to guard parking wardens following a rise in attacks. Three are assaulted in the capital each day, some being attacked with baseball bats and knives. NCP security chief Gordon McLardy said: "Spit kits have already been used by Transport for London and a number of bus companies and have led to a marked reduction in incidents." Which, of course, is far easier than trying to find out why people are spitting in the first place, and perhaps (gasp!), trying to offend them less. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #5 phil_b: the important thing is *who* is committing these "petty" crimes. If it is some yob with lots of priors, I can agree that he needs attitude adjustment. However, if you see a large number of otherwise law-abiding people doing things like attacking speed cameras, getting aggrieved because they have been ticketed multiple times in a week, or carrying guns and other weapons because they have been mugged and the police and courts show more sympathy for the mugger than for them, then *they* are not the problem, they are a symptom. Normal people become outraged when an armed home invader threatens their life and the police are overly concerned that they tried to defend themselves, but make no extra effort to stop the villains. Normal people also become outraged when no effort is made to create legal parking, but extra enforcement is used to punish them for parking illegally. Picking just one reason why normal people misbehave isn't fair, though. It is a cumulative problem. How upset would you have to be to spit at someone else? Assuming that you are not a typical thug, I would expect you to be almost ready to punch their lights out, unless you were afraid of going to jail. Even then, you would probably be so mad that you would rage for hours. The ticket might just be "the final straw", and seen as an exclusive event, spitting because you were ticketed is unreasonable. But if the ticket is the culmination of a day filled with nanny government inspired torments, suddenly things become a little clearer, and you are less the reprobate than spitting would seem to indicate. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-05-17 18:17 |
| #4 Well said Robert. There is nothing more corrosive to the fabric of society than unchecked crime, especially petty crimes. We are fortunate that advances in technology is helping in checking the increase in crimes like these. Otherwise, what you say Moose may well be true but it is irrelevant to the issue at hand. Failure to address one set of issues is not a valid argument for not addressing another set of issues. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-05-17 17:25 |
| #3 Government can either address the important things in our lives, or it can be a micromanaging nanny government. As it was in East Germany, where it was joked that "People can be dropping dead on the street from pollution, but the government really cares what time everybody eats lunch." As far as the UK goes, the nanny state is rapidly reaching a critical mass, with ubiquitous surveillance cameras that don't stop crime; traffic cameras not for safety, but to raise revenue; and what seems an effort to reward criminals and punish the law-abiding. The unwillingness to see that their way of doing business is just plain *wrong*, that it's not the people who are at fault, but the system, guarantees tremendous pain for everyone. If the engine is dangerously broken, fix it, don't just keep insisting that it is fine, it's that the drivers and passengers just aren't using it properly. Please note that the problems are not life-or-death problems. Individually they are petty, the surrendering of a small right here, a minor injustice there. But in their thousands and tens of thousands they make life intolerable. So the issue is not that hundreds of criminal spitters need to be prosecuted, and it is not appeasement to suggest that if you stop nagging people continually, they will be of a more pleasant disposition. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-05-17 13:48 |
| #2 Which, of course, is far easier than trying to find out why people are spitting in the first place, and perhaps (gasp!), trying to offend them less. Appeasement's never a good idea. Just because someone "takes offense" doesn't mean any offense was offered. Personally, I think the parking attendants should be issued nightsticks and given the proper training in using them. Or go full-out barbarian and let them defend themselves against bats and knives with (whisper it) guns. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-05-17 12:55 |
| #1 Hundreds of the £1.. Not surprised it's the UK doing this. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-05-17 11:12 |