The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
DNA spray to help get grip on joyriders
An almost invisible spray used by the police to tag anti-social joyriders is to be trialled for the first time in Aberdeen today.
Officers will carry singleuse handheld canisters of a synthetic DNA liquid that can be squirted at offenders from several metres away to leave a unique longlasting stain.
Perpetrators could later be caught if the chemical is detected when an ultraviolet light (UV) scans suspects in police custody or items associated with them.
The presence of SelectaDNA tagging spray, which is aimed at bicycles, scooters, ebikes, and motorcycles or the skin and clothing of riders and their passengers, provides an irrefutable forensic link to a specific crime.
Use of it in the north-east comes after concerns about “illegal and anti-social activity” in certain areas of the city, including Seaton, Tillydrone, Northfield, Mastrick and Torry.
The effectiveness of SelectaDNA was first tested by Police Scotland in Edinburgh in 2018 as part of Operation Soteria, a response to the theft and reckless use of motorcycles across the capital.
It involved the purchase of off-road police bikes and other innovative approaches, including the tagging spray.
Anti-social motorcycle calls to Edinburgh officers fell by 60% between April and June 2018.
Chief Inspector Darren Bruce, Local Area Commander, Aberdeen City North, said that local roads policing officers and community policing teams have been trained on the new equipment.
“The use of this tagging spray is another tool officers will have at their disposal,” he said.
“SelectaDNA allows officers – without getting close to ebikes, scooters or motorcycles – to spray people. It marks them so at a later point we can identify them as being involved in anti-social behaviour.
“It means that, if we bring someone into custody, they’ll be scanned and we’ll automatically know that that person has been involved in that particular incident.”
If the north-east’s trial of the tagging spray is successful, larger canisters with almost double the current range could be purchased for the region.
“It’s a pilot at the moment. We’re wanting to see if we’re going to get a benefit from it. It is something that I foresee us continuing to have beyond the pilot,” the chief inspector added.
SelectaDNA is as reliable as forensic DNA evidence presented in court because the liquid is unique to its canister with each can’s contents containing a oneof-a-kind chemical code that doesn’t exist anywhere else in nature.
SelectaDNA is extremely resistant to repeated attempts to remove it and can remain on an offender for months by clinging to clothing fibres or sitting in the creases of their skin.