Police proposal 'unconstitutional and illogical'
A plan to fingerprint all newborn babies to combat crime has come under attack from backbenchers, lawyers and human rights activists, who say it is unconstitutional and treats innocent children as potential criminals.
Police announced on Monday they want to take the palm and foot prints of newborns for storage in a computer database to be used in later years to arrest criminals.
'The prints will be matched with those recovered from the crime scenes to identify criminals,' said Amidon Anan, head of police forensic science. 'It is the ideal solution against crime.'
Officials said babies' prints grew as they matured but computer software existed that could match the changes and keep databases updated. They said a similar system was used in America, where privacy and human rights were jealously guarded, but priority was also given to combating crime.
Senior police officers are evaluating the plan.