Police Scotland was warned it was not recording DNA ethnicity data correctly amid a row around allegations of institutional racism within the force. Former Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone said Police Scotland “is institutionally racist and discriminatory”, months before retiring in August 2023.
However the Scottish Biometrics Commissioner, Dr Brian Plastow, called on Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) to review procedures for recording ethnicity when it collects DNA or other biometric data following arrest – and issued a report saying failure to do so correctly was “concerning”.
Less than 1,000 crimes a year in Scotland are solved using DNA – typically murders, assaults and sex offences – and Police Scotland was told to develop a biometrics strategy including cost, to be approved and in place before October 31. Biometric data includes DNA and fingerprints, and publicly available information on the UK’s National DNA Database allows scrutiny to see if any ethnic group is over-represented – with black citizens accounting for 7.5%, despite being 4% of the UK population according to the 2021/22 census.
The 2022 Scottish census noted that 1.3% of the population is of black heritage – however, no details about ethnicity are recorded on the Scottish DNA Database (SDNAD), which is almost 30 years old, meaning experts were unable to establish if there was over-representation.
A decade after a £6 million investment in world-class DNA technology in the Scottish Crime Campus in Gartcosh, North Lanarkshire, the benefits “have not been fully realised”, and 70% of the profiles are of a lower scientific standard due to a failure to re-test offenders, the report warned.
Properly recording data would support Police Scotland’s equality duties and help maintain public confidence, amid allegations of “institutional racism”, supported by Chief Constable Jo Farrell, it was said. Dr Plastow said: “SPA Forensic Services and Police Scotland were unable to provide us with any reliable management information on the ethnicity of anyone held within SDNAD as the database is nearly 30 years old and not designed to record this information.
“Failing to properly record and publish data on ethnicity of arrested people whose biometric data is held is concerning, against the context of the former and current chief constables having stated that institutional racism persists. “We have been unable to establish whether there is over-representation on grounds of ethnicity or any protected characteristic.”.
As an alternative, Police Scotland were asked to provide ethnicity data from its National Custody System, for arrests from 2023 to 2024 where DNA was taken. However, this mandatory information was “incomplete” and “unreliable”, Dr Plastow said.
He added: “The data extract obtained by Police Scotland was incomplete and so heavily caveated to render it unreliable.”. Seven recommendations were made after a joint review with the SPA and the Leverhulme Institute of Forensic Science, on the acquisition, retention, use and destruction of DNA.
Dr Plastow said: “DNA provided a potential investigative lead in only 0.34% of recorded crime in Scotland in 2023 to 2024, but those investigative leads can be spectacular.”. The report highlighted that where a criminal has been re-arrested, no fresh DNA sample is routinely taken if a lower standard DNA profile was recorded predating 2014 – despite investment that year which gave Police Scotland access to the most advanced DNA analysis facilities available internationally.
In 2014, after the establishment of Police Scotland and the SPA, the Scottish Government spent £6 million on the new DNA testing facility, but a decision not to re-test samples predating 2014, means less than a third of offenders’ profiles are currently of the newer DNA24 standard, it was warned.
Dr Plastow said: “When the new facility opened there were more than 250,000 samples A decision was taken on the grounds of cost and laboratory capacity not to do any bulk back record conversion, as it would have cost more than £10 million. “More than 10 years after the introduction of DNA24, 69.9% of profiles held are still of a lower scientific standard.”.
Police Scotland was urged to review its DNA Confirmed policy to increase DNA24 profiles, for more effective investigations, and to develop a biometrics strategy including capital expenditure before October 31. Dr Plastow said: “Holding DNA24 profiles would lead to more effective and efficient investigations and eliminate innocent suspects more quickly.
“Without such a plan, there is no clear vision of what Police Scotland hopes to achieve with DNA, fingerprints, facial images, or other biometric enabled technologies including retrospective facial search.”. Police Scotland and the SPA have been contacted for comment.
