Car insurance: Genetic fingerprinting has helped catch more car thieves

Wednesday, 03 March 2010

The inventor of genetic fingerprinting claims the technology has helped to catch an increasing number of car thieves, potentially reducing the amount of car insurance claims made in the UK.

Speaking to the Scotsman, Sir Alec Jeffreys said: "It has had a major impact on crime, on the detection of burglary and car theft and so on. It has led to long unsolved cases being cracked."

However, he expressed concern over the English DNA database, where samples can be stored of people not convicted of any crime and can be held indefinitely.

Sir Jeffreys told the Scotsman he believed England, Wales and Northern Ireland should adopt a scaled-down DNA database, as Scotland has.

Scottish authorities only retain the DNA of those convicted of serious offences, and only for three years.
Compact executive cars and 4x4s are among the most stolen vehicles according to new research by British firm HPI.

Posted by Noel Martin

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