Met Police is missing half of officers' DNA

THE Metropolitan Police is still missing nearly half of its officers' DNA from its database, and more than a fifth of their fingerprints.

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Wayne Couzens

Elimination databases are used to exclude police officers' DNA or fingerprints from crime scene samples, helping to prevent contamination from being mistaken for a suspect's profile.

However, the missing data could also hamper the force's ability to catch criminals in their own ranks, like Wayne Couzens, a police officer who raped and murdered Sarah Everard in 2021.

Of the 32,431 Met Police officers, 17,458 have their DNA on the force's elimination database, which is just 53.8%.

Meanwhile, 25,802 officers have their fingerprints on the elimination database, which is 79.6%.