Chief wants global DNA searches

Police forces want the right to search for DNA matches

An East Midlands police chief is calling for global DNA searches to tackle cross-border crime.

Lincolnshire Chief Constable Tony Lake said police would benefit greatly from this tool.

He said criminals are "very mobile" and police need "to make the world a very small place for people who travel to hide their crimes".

The murder of Cornish schoolgirl Caroline Dickinson was solved after a request for a cross-border DNA search.

Protocol needed

The crime was committed in France but her killer, Spaniard Francisco Arce Montes, was traced to the United States.

"If you have evidence someone's committing serious crime around the county, then we ought to ask where else they are committing these sort of offences," Mr Lake said.

DNA fingerprinting was first developed by Professor Alec Jeffreys at Leicester University 23 years ago and there are now millions of DNA profiles on databases around the world.

Mr Lake is not calling for an international database, but an agreement to allow police forces to search other countries for a particular match.

Any detailed information would still require an official request through Interpol.

"We're not opening access to our database. No one's suggesting one country has unfettered access to other's (databases).

"We can ask: 'Does anyone recognise this DNA?' and then have a secure network to pose the question and a protocol to manage these inquiries."