Police in the UK Use Forensic Spray to Tag Illegal Bikers

https://www.forensicmag.com/3594-All-News/614283-Police-in-the-UK-Use-Forensic-Spray-to-Tag-Illegal-Bikers/

by WaitWaitWha • 2 years ago

16 6 2 years ago

janice1999• 2 years ago

There are problems in the UK and Ireland with unlicensed young people causing trouble on scramblers (off road motorcycles) and motorcycles being used for crime in general. There have been an increasing number of fatalities of both riders and pedestrians and several high profile deaths that occurred during police pursuits. It makes sense to tag and investigate later than risk a fatal chase.

viranchee• 2 years ago

If I was the biker, I would buy and spray this spray on my and everyones bikes! Effectively countering the UV spray because everybody has been sprayed

xethos• 2 years ago

Per TFA: "The spray, called SmartTag, contains a unique traceable forensic code tied to the bottle..."

Even if you cover yourself, all your bikes, and all your gear, the cops only need "...an extremely small amount of liquid is needed to be able to identify whether or not someone or something has been sprayed" - meaning you'll be drenched in one code, and lightly tagged in another that's linked to whatever crime they were going after that day

In short, good luck with that

smegsicle• 2 years ago

this is boring without discussion of how the 'dna-like unique binary polymer code' works

nom• 2 years ago

I'm curious, how does it work? How is the liquid in each bottle unique?

Unique molecules, like RNA chains? Unique mixture of molecules? Can it be identified without a big lab, like sequencing equipment?

Sounds like an interesting problem they have solved, but the sauce is likely secret.

thro1• 2 years ago

I guess, like SmartWater, code = unique proportions of specific chemicals https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SmartWater

Police in the UK Use Forensic Spray to Tag Illegal Bikers

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