Crime at stores and fast food places may end soon! Aussie dopers please tell us more about this.

[aceplace57]

I’m dumb founded that they aren’t trying this in the U.S. simultaneously with Australia. This sounds like the end of successful store holdups, You may get the money but you will eventually get caught.

Its a similar idea to the dye packs that banks use to mark money and the robber after bank holdups.

I could see UV detectors put in public places to catch these perps days or weeks after the robbery. I’m thrilled to think we could severely limit the success of robbing stores and fast food places. This stuff can actually link you to the store you robbed. Fantastic idea.

McDONALD’S restaurants are fighting back against thieves by blasting suspected robbers with an invisible DNA spray as they attempt to flee.

The spray, which remains on the suspect’s skin for two weeks and on clothes for up to six months, has been introduced in some of the chain’s busiest NSW stores, including those at Parramatta, Granville, Auburn, Lidcome, Kingsford and Wollongong, reported The Daily Telegraph.

If the SelectaDNA “forensic marking” spray proves successful in apprehending bandits, McDonald’s will introduce the system across all its 780 Australian outlets.

The solution is invisible to the naked eye and unique to each location. It stays on clothing for up to six months and on skin for up to two weeks."

Using a UVA light, police can see the markings left by the system and link the offender back to the scene.

The spray contains a synthetic DNA strand composed of 60 variable chromosomes, said SelectaDNA director David Morrissey.

“SelectaDNA is non-toxic, non-allergenic and perfectly safe to deploy. It meets all Australian standards,” he said.

http://www.news.com.au/business/dna-mcspray-to-foil-thieves/story-e6frfm1i-1226239112219

[Cunctator]

I first heard of it in that same article in the weekend papers.

I think the spray was developed in the UK.

[LurkerInNJ]

@aceplace57

This sounds like the end of successful store holdups, You may get the money but you will eventually get caught.

How? If you burn or otherwise get rid of your clothes immediately and wash well for two weeks, there is no trace left. Look at the photos. If the thief wore gloves and glasses with the mask, there wouldn’t be anything ton his or her skin.

http://www.selectadna.co.uk/selectadna-anti-intruder-spray.html

Now if the thieves were nude and planned on standing in the blacklight poster section of Spencer’s Gifts for the next two weeks, I guess their chances of being caught would greatly increase.

[aceplace57]

Detecting the people with the crime dye will need to be worked out. Maybe patrol officers could carry a small UV scanner? They come into contact with street criminals and addicts regularly. Addicts are responsible for the majority of hold ups and burglaries. Certainly anyone booked into jail on other charges needs to be scanned for the dye.

They’ll figure something out. A lot of criminals are so brazen they even return to these fast food places as customers. Maybe UV scanners at the door could alert staff to dial 911?

[Sudden_Kestrel]

I predict a huge increase in coverall and ski mask sales.

BTW, have dye packs had any impact on frequency of bank robberies? We seem to have the same number of Dillinger wannabees around here, but maybe they only use the dye packs in big cities.

[Alley_Dweller]

A couple of things I would worry about:

1. Any customers or innocent bystanders who see the robbery in progress and flee in panic will also get sprayed.

2. The spray system has to be activated by an employee. (You don’t want everyone who comes and goes from the restaurant all day to get sprayed.) As thieves learn about the system, this will motivate them to do harm to the employees before they leave so that the employees can’t activate the system.