What do you think of the police being allowed to take fingerprints at the roadside?

Question

In some counties in England police are being allowed to take fingerprints at the roadside. People CAN refuse!!!

These are random checks.

Answer 1

Hi Carmellav , Seems that at the moment we can as you say "Refuse" -- "Nothing to Hide - Nothing to Fear" but what happens when you Refuse ?? It does tend to be Irksome , yet another step toward "Big Brothers (Tony Blairs) " Police State , I suppose the next step will be that when we are pulled over we will have a "Chip" inserted somewhere into our bodies , , , I wonder where ??? In reality I have no Objection to this , anything that helps with the war against the ever growing army of Criminals must be a good move - Good Luck

Answer 2

To take the 'roadside fingerprinting' which you heard about this morning first:
The roadside check is very much a screening check. The prints obtained on these machines would simply not be good enough to try to keep for evidential purposes. The idea is that if you are stopped for a traffic offence and there are doubts as to your identity then you could give your fingerprint(s) which would be checked against the database to see if you are a disqualified driver / wanted for a crime etc. You see, not everyone tells the truth to the police about who they are etc.....
Now, although everyone has unique fingerprints we all have certain characteristics in common - loops, whorls and tents to name but three. There is the possibility that your print may be similar to a criminal's and that checking the restricted amount of data that the roadside machines will be able to transmit will give a false positive result. However, police officers have discretion and good sense, and this doesn't automatically mean that they'll arrest you unless they have good reason to think you're telling porkies!
Now, there are lots more issues about the taking of fingerprints, DNA and photographs on arrest which ARE then kept, even if no action is taken against you. Although I am a police officer I am very much against this - and have said so in other answers that I have given on the subject.
So no, I'm not worried in the slightest about these roadside checks and you have nothing to fear, but it doesn't mean that I agree with other things that are going on.
Cheers and take care.

Answer 3

Way it stands I believe people will be able to refuse as breath alisers can be refused for a blood test on DD & this is a similar matter. I do think it wont affect the a.v. driver as the police will only be looking for those that have not come through the system. They have not got the resources to perform this act wide spread & come on if your not an illegal immigrant & ur car is registered your pretty much ok as wont go through the first filter wave to then be stopped. I think people give the police too much respect. Think about it, when going past one of these blocks don't look at them (come on the ones doing this job wont be the cream of the crop & on orders from above. They are trained machines without impulsive thinking to adversity & cannot compute it in their brains.) Remeber the psychological factor if no eye contact is made the human brain cannot remember the situation or person involved your car will be remembered as a coloured lump in their mind. You can say didn't see them trying to pull you over, sorry. If they are keen & want promotion. Your telling me someone who does this job will really try & stop you once you've mistakeningly gone past, 'oh let them go stupid driver.' Play off the police's arrogance, fact their standing out in the cold, not that intelligent & the fact is if your a real criminal you would have a decoy already checking the route. If however this fingerprinting is actually done to boost up the DNA data-base (which is the likely truth like the Iraq war for oil) then we are all in trouble which is the worry 4 us all.

Answer 4

question G asked why ought to you care in the event that they fingerprint you in case you have not dedicated a criminal offense. that question exhibits a naivete approximately human nature. not all policeman and politicians who administration them are elementary and could use the fingerprints basically for valid purposes. if your fingerprints are on checklist, and banks bypass to fingerprint attractiveness, the considered necessary government would be attentive to each and every time your funds a verify, working example, and all your strikes ought to be tracked. Fingerprints of folk they do unlike ought to be planted at crime scenes. those people could have impressive volume of potential to intimidate the final public with a view to get the wealth and potential they elect. Is it "Conservatives." i think of people of all political persuasions have between them people who're cheating and abusive.

Answer 5

i think its better than id cards which are easily forged , after all the only people who need worry are the ones with outstanding warrants and are due to be arrested if you havent committed a crime then it saves you a trip to the station where they will still take your fingerprints but you will probably also have been arrested for hampering a police investigation - much faster just to let them scan your finger then say sorry for the inconvenience thank you for your time goodbye because your innocent - only people who have committed a crime that is unpunished in the police database need worry if youve been caught and punished you still ok because they aren't looking for your just identifing you to remove you as a suspect for whatever crime they are investigating - your allowed to have a "past" criminal record as long as you haven't got any crimes they need to arrrest you for because they are outstanding

Answer 6

No problem here. We are actually attempting to implement something like that now. Pretty cool system and we'll probably catch more criminals that way. Hope it works out for the Brits...pretty great bunch of guys and gals so far as the few I've met in the law enforcement community.

Answer 7

Its the first step to making it compulsary.

No problem with it, they can have my DNA and an ID card if they want, i've got nothing to hide.

skyline: if you are going to criticise someone at least get it right. "some counties in England " is almost right in the context of this story. More acurate that your criticism anyway.

Those deploying the system are Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lancashire, Northamptonshire, North Wales, West Midlands and West Yorkshire, as well as to British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police.

Answer 8

Your papers please.

This is just Labour taking us closer and closer to a police state.

If I have nothing to hide, why are the police so interested in my fingerprints? Innocent until proven guilty, remember? NOT guilty until proven innocent.

Answer 9

If it removes criminals from the streets why would you object? Think big brother is taking your privacy away again? People that break into your homes, place bombs on your planes and trains, are the ones that are violating your rights. You want the police to catch them NOW, but don't want them to have the tools. Your choice I suppose. They can fingerprint me anytime they want. Nothing to hide

Answer 10

Excellent, anything that saves police time is a good idea & before the human rights screamers start stamping their feet those who will be fingerprinted will have been arrested for burglary shoplifting car theft etc.