POLICE Scotland has been warned that it is not recording DNA ethnicity data correctly amid allegations of institutional racism within the force.
Former Chief Constable Iain Livingstone claimed that 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 1000 crimes a year in Scotland are solved using DNA – typically murders, assaults and sexual 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, which 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.”
Police Scotland and the SPA have been contacted for comment.
