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UK-Developed 'DNA Spray' Marks Dutch Thieves With Trackable Water
eldavojohn writes "In Rotterdam, there's a new technology in place that dispenses a barely visible mist over those around it and alerts the police. The purpose? To tag robbers and link them back to the scene of the crime. From the article, 'The mist — visible only under ultraviolet light — carries DNA markers particular to the location, enabling the police to match the burglar with the place burgled. Now, a sign on the front door of the McDonald's prominently warns potential thieves of the spray's presence: "You Steal, You're Marked."' Developed in Britain, it's yet to nab a criminal but it will be interesting to see whether or not synthesized DNA will hold up as sufficient evidence in an actual court of law." So it's not just for copper thieves.
I've seen stickers in buildings 'armed' with this stuff since the early 90s (my old primary school used it, it came in little bottles with a felt applicator, and the stuff dried out almost instantly so opening one resulted in a mad rush to tag everything). Generally, the idea was not to tag burglars, but instead to stick a dab onto valuable equipment. Because vanishingly few burglars would bother to go over stolen goods with a UV lamp looking for a little glowing patch, and even fewer would then go and acquire the solvents required to remove all traces of the stuff, it generally sticks around better than a simple unpeelable sticker or sand-able etched number. If it got stolen and subsequently recovered, it could then be definitively traced back to a crime. Makes prosecution easier, and helps with insurance (and even getting your stuff back if you can definitively prove it's yours).
I would guess, the product in question is http://smartwater.com/
Living in the UK a few years back, I had started using it to mark belongings of mine, after a friend working for the police recommended it.
The stuff is almost transparent - but, when I applied it to a grey camera lens - it's still easily visible on it -- on black or white lenses it's not much of a problem.
On the greyish lens, I tried to wash it off - and have found that I couldn't (wet wipes, ...).
The stuff sticks fairly well - I can't even say I managed to get a noticable amount of it off.
As far as marking belongings goes - you literally only need a very small spot of it; and you can pick some place where it isn't too obvious. On my Nikon lenses, I sometimes put the spot on the 'o' in the Nikon logo. Trying to get this off would probably seriously (cosmetically) harm the lens; scratch off part of the logo - and the resale value will drop massively: No point trying to call it 'near mint condition' afterwards.
Under UV light, the spot is easily visible - under normal light, it's near invisible.
From another friend who works as a shop fitter for jewellers, he's tried it in alarm systems, and he told me, that it will take a few days/weeks before you get all of it off (i.e. small amounts still lodged in skin pores are almost impossible to get out easily).
This shit doesn't contain "DNA," it contains a chemical sequence that's sufficiently unique. They say "DNA" because DNA is so variant no two people who aren't clones (such as twins) have the same DNA. But it catches idiots with buzzwords.
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