A flagship database intended to protect every child in the country will be used by police to hunt for evidence of crime in a "shocking" extension of its original purpose, The Daily Telegraph has learned.Because it certainly isn't 'shocking' to me...:
The £224 million computer system was announced in the wake of the death of Victoria Climbié, who was abused and then murdered after a string of missed opportunities to intervene by the authorities, as a way to connect the different services dealing with children.Government critics in the Opposition said "...".
It has always been portrayed as a way for professionals to find out which other agencies are working with a particular child, to make their work easier and provide a better service for young people.
However, it has now emerged that police officers, council staff, head teachers, doctors and care workers will use the records to search for evidence of criminality and wrongdoing to help them launch prosecutions against those on the database - even long after they have reached adulthood.
Still, at least one politician had some courage:
Baroness Miller, the Liberal Democrats' home affairs spokesman in the House of Lords, said: "This is truly shocking. It's exactly the definition of a police state. The police will have the details of a whole generation for so-called crime prevention.Yeah. That's not all that 'shocking' either...
"It raises a lot of issues and we haven't had a debate in Parliament about it."
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ReplyDeleteActually, your last sentence isn't quite correct, I feel. It is shocking that there was no Parliamentary debate, just not exactly surprising.
ReplyDeleteThe timing of this, during a recess (probably timed when the appropriate Shadow Minister was known to be out of the country on holiday, so couldn't comment -- that's just my guess) is obviously deliberate, especially with the "highs" of the Olympics fresh in people's minds.
It will come as little surprise to you, I'm sure, that I have written my own piece on this, before reading yours, so it has a different slant that might be of interest.
I guess as we get older, the capacity to be shocked withers (along with other things...) ;)
ReplyDeleteI guess as we get older, the capacity to be shocked withers (along with other things...) ;)
ReplyDelete