The ID card and National identity register are not the Government's only tools. There are other supplementary Bills, like the Serious Organised Crime and Agency Bill.


If both bills are approved (that's why we have to act NOW), then it will be possible for anyone to be fingerprinted without consent.

You can find the Bill here, in whichever format you prefer:
 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmbills/008/2005008.htm

And the list of amendments here (link to successive pages at the bottom of each):
 http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200405/cmbills/008/amend/cmam008.htm

The legislation referred to in the article from the Independent is contained in the Serious Organised Crimes and Police bill, which is going to call for the construction of the Serious Organised Crimes Agency.

This is widely referred to as the UK version of the USAs FBI.

Now, this bill, in the follow quoted section, contains law that will make it possible for police to fingerprint anyone they cannot otherwise ID, even if they are not under arrest or anything;

108 Fingerprints
A constable may take a person’s fingerprints without the appropriate
consent if—
(a) the constable reasonably suspects that the person is committing
or attempting to commit an offence, or has committed or
attempted to commit an offence; and
(b) either of the two conditions mentioned in subsection (6B) is met.
(6B) The conditions are that—
(a) the name of the person is unknown to, and cannot be readily
ascertained by, the constable;
(b) the constable has reasonable grounds for doubting whether a
name furnished by the person as his name is his real name.


The bill, just before the part above, also allows the photographs or video clips to be taken of anyone contain within the above categories, not just by police, but also now by the army of CSOs that patrol our streets.

All of this new technology is available to the police now, because they have just recently completed the transition to the new TETRA digital radio system (instead of the older analogue radios), which allow for the transmission of data along side voice comms.

When viewed alongside the Identity card bill, this is a meaningful development, as the ID bill allows the government (the home secretary really) to allow anyone they choose to have access to the information contained within in - information which obviously includes, or will include eventually, the fingerprints and iris scan of everyone in the country.

The key thing to remember is that the prints taken on the road side will not be added to the database - it's only to check ID on the spot...

However, it is another candid display of the governments desire for a police state-like country where everybody has a file that is centrally stored, and anyone can be fingerprinted and the like on demand.

Sadly, it tells us more about their authoritarian tendencies to control and know, than about their wanting to defend out freedoms.

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