Police Data Deletion

The police don't want to delete old minor criminal records.
Surely everyone deserves a second chance, if it just a minor offence committed some time ago or when they were young, why should it need to reflect on their present lives. They would have been punished according to the offence at the time, is that not enough, without jeopardising their present day careers.
The man in the street can be criminalised all too easily these days, if someone has become a model citizen despite of some past indiscretion, what is the point in destroying this.
Without forgiveness society falls apart, as we all have done something wrong at one time or another.