Can You Hear Squeaking?

That would be the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) back pedalling from comments made by their own spokesman about collection of DNA from children who "exhibited behaviour indicating criminality in later life".

Gary Pugh, Scotland Yard's director of forensic services, told the Observer: "If we have a primary means of identifying people before they offend, then in the long term the benefits of targeting younger people are extremely large."

He added: "You could argue, the younger the better. Criminologists say some people will grow out of crime; others won't. We have to find who are possibly going to be the biggest threat to society."

An ACPO spokeswoman said that although they believe the National DNA Database is "an invaluable tool", they do not support DNA profiling for children. She said: "Gary Pugh has yet to take over as the ACPO lead on the National DNA Database...If Gary has expressed the views reported in the media this morning, they are his own personal views and not that of ACPO."

I can only congratulate ACPO for their decision to distance themselves from Gary Pugh's comments.