posted on May, 9 2008 @ 10:21 AM
First some background:
Last sunday night/monday morning a woman was the victim of a serious sexual attack and as a result is still in hospital.
It happened at the bottom of my road, so for obvious reasons I don't want to link the story - however if anyone on my friends list wants the details
I'll be happy to send the link via u2u.
From talking to various people (you know how the grapevine works) it seems that the woman was attacked from behind and knocked unconscious.
She was then sexually assaulted (raped?) and beaten some more.
A truly awfull crime.
I live in a small seaside town, and crimes of this nature are very rare.
All this week, a serious crime team has been conducting house to house enquiries, and are now completing questionnaires for males of a certain age
group, and asking for a DNA sample.
So today, they knocked on my door and informed me of what they were doing, asking my permission to enter my premises so they could ask me some
questions (a standard questionnaire) and take a DNA swab.
My first question before allowing entry was whether the DNA sample would be destroyed after the crime had been (hopefully) solved.
It then occurred to me that even if my sample was kept on file, I have nothing to hide, and that the positives in helping to catch the criminal
outweigh the negatives of the police holding information about me.
And there's the crux - at what point does civic duty outweigh civil liberty?
For me personally, it was a no-brainer.
Do everything I can to help catch this vile sub-human, even if it means my details are held, and not destroyed.
BUT, I know there are people who have flatly refused to help by giving a DNA sample, simply because of a misguided principle of civil liberty.
IMO these people have put themselves before the greater good, and are pretty selfish.
I understand their position, but I cannot in any way condone it.
If a person wants the protection of the law, then where do they draw the line with regard to co-operation with law enforcement officers?