'Sinister' Database on England's Children
Under sinister new guidelines, officers must assess all children they encounter – including while ‘searching premises’ – for a police database called MERLIN. This, in turn, feeds into a giant new Whitehall database on Britain’s children, Contact Point, which goes live nationally in January. The Tories have vowed to scrap it, arguing that it threatens family privacy and children’s safety. But civil liberties campaigners say we must resist it now, before it is too late.