New dog squad is sniffing out bike criminals and stolen parts
Dogs join the search to help police track down stolen bikes
Sniffer dogs have been trained to seek out metal tagged with DNA markings, which could help police find stolen motorbikes much faster. DNA spray has been used for a few years now in the fight against bike crime, with excellent results. Officers use a special canister to tag a rider and their machine with a liquid that is almost impossible to wash off completely and carries a distinct DNA signature. Forensic teams can use the presence of this liquid on a suspect’s clothing or skin to tie them to a specific motorbike and place, which is invaluable when building a case. Now SelectaDNA, the firm behind the tech, say they’ve worked with Search Dogs UK to train dogs to seek out the markings. They’ve already helped the Met Police with the Operation Ferrous campaign, which resulted in more than 10 arrests, a scrap yard closure, the recovery of £4600 of Thames Water cable and 50kg of BT cable.
Now they say the concept is ready to be rolled out to bikes. “Complementing existing police search procedures, the SelectaDNA search dogs are able to sniff for stolen metal in places like scrap yards, and stolen property during search warrants, where forensic markings are not immediately visible to the human eye, even with a UV light,” say the firm. “As humans, we can only search in 2D - in the line of sight - but dogs can search in 3D by using their nose. They can be incredibly accurate and can pinpoint their target to within a couple of centimetres, at which stage police can use traditional search techniques like UV lights to take samples or identify the unique SelectaDNA code.” Motorcycle crime expert and Met Police consultant, Dr Ken German is optimistic about the technique, adding: “Specialist dogs can be trained to locate many things from drugs, human remains to Sim cards, so using them to sniff out stripped or cut up motorcycles that have covert markings would clearly assist in volume police searches.”
‘Dogs search in 3D by using their nose’ SELECTA DNA SPOKESPERSON