NEW rules have paved the way for local police to take DNA samples and fingerprints from anyone arrested - whether they are charged or not.

The change in law which came into force in Lancashire earlier this month is expected to add thousands of DNA samples to the police database.

Previously, DNA samples could only be taken after someone was charged.

The Home Office hopes the change will see forensic science used more in the fight against crime.

And Lancashire Police's scientific support manager Kath Mashiter is confident that extra samples will help detect crime.

She says that since the law changed several years ago in relation to keeping samples from those released after charge there have been more than 5,000 hits against undetected crimes, including 46 murders and several rapes.

Ms Mashiter expects this new legislation to produce equally dramatic results', adding: "Within the Lancashire area we anticipate an extra 4,000 DNA samples and more than 16,000 sets of fingerprints to be taken."

But civil rights group Liberty has condemned the move.

Spokesman Barry Hugill says: "There is a myth that DNA is the ultimate crime-solving methodology. It is not."

He says the safety and security of the DNA is also a serious issue of concern, stressing that DNA holds sensitive information such as whether someone is prone to certain diseases.

"We need to know what legislation there is to protect privacy. The Government should stop seeking new ways to put yet more innocent people on these criminal databases, where all the genuine criminals already go," he says.

"This treats everyone who has been wrongly arrested as guilty."