Selectadna Spray
A DNA Spray Keeps Burglars at Bay
Original Post Date: 28th Oct, 2010 - 1:08am
What do you think of this new gadget, will it really be a deterrent for criminals or they will break in anyway?
LONDON (Oct. 24) -- When a gang of hammer-wielding thieves smashed their way into a convenience store in the northwest English town of Preston, neighboring businessman Altaf Kazi realized he had to upgrade his security or risk becoming the next victim. Fortunately for newsstand owner Kazi, his security crisis came just as police were offering small businesses in the area the chance to trial a high-tech crime-fighting device.
That gadget was a SelectaDNA Spray -- a canister loaded with a harmless solution containing synthetic DNA. If a criminal attempts to burgle a premises fitted with the device, an employee can hit a panic button that alerts police to a crime in progress and simultaneously shoots out a fine mist covering everyone in the room, including the robber. And as each batch of the spray -- which glows blue under ultraviolet light -- has a unique DNA signature, police can connect the robber to the scene of the crime.
Criminally minded readers might now be thinking, "Well, if I robbed a shop, I'd just scrub myself clean when I got home." But as Andrew Knights, managing director of SelectaDNA, explains, the solution isn't so easy to remove. "It will come off within a number of hand washes," he told AOL News. "But if you run through a spray it'll accumulate on the inside of your nostrils and ears and under the fingernails; areas that are difficult to get off." And, he notes, if a criminal doesn't have an ultraviolet light, he won't know where the liquid is lurking.
Hundreds of sprays have been deployed at retailers and banks across the U.K., Europe and New Zealand; Knights' company, part of Britain's Selectamark security group, is also in talks with U.S. Companies....
Source 2o