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5) From: "Timothy Robarts"
Subject: DNA Technology
London 16/09/98
September 16 1998
Police Superintendents' Conference: Stewart Tendler on how science is catching
up with the criminal.
DNA detectives will fit a face to a flake of skin A SINGLE flake of dandruff
will soon be enough for scientists to build up a criminal's photofit, police
commanders were told yesterday. Experts believe they will be able to create
"genetic e-fits", using information gleaned from a DNA sample to build a
picture of a suspect's race, build, eye and hair colour, and even behavioural
characteristics. Within a year, forensic scientists will be able to take DNA
samples from minute scraps of skin left at the scene of a burglary and from
such surfaces as the steering wheel of a stolen car, the keyboard of a
computer and the outside of a drink can. They will be able to identify DNA
from the
wrappings round illegal drugs that dealers and couriers had hidden in their
bodies.
The photofit will be available within a decade. It will include the height of
the suspect and other details including the shape of the ears and chin and
inherited physical defects.
The DNA advances were forecast yesterday by Kevin Sullivan, DNA research and
development manager for the Forensic Science Service, speaking to the annual
conference of the Police Superintendents' Association in Bristol. He said that
genetic profiling was the "Holy Grail" for scientists but would be achieved
within ten years, aided by international work on gene identification.
Dr Sullivan, who worked on the identification of the remains of the last Tsar,
Nicholas II, said that the breakthrough in taking DNA samples from dandruff
would allow investigators to take material from the tiny particles of human
skin that are found at every scene. He said: "People are constantly shedding
skin cells. The majority of household dust is made up of dead skin and we know
we can get DNA from an individual skin cell."
He said that an armed robber could be tracked down by DNA evidence taken
within 12 months from flakes of dandruff left behind in a discarded
balaclava. It
is a person's DNA, contained in every cell in the body, which predicts an
enormous
range of characteristics including skin, hair and eye colour, bone structure
and even propensity to some illnesses and personality traits.
He told the conference that DNA testing had become "1,000 times more
sensitive" in the past decade. Whereas ten years ago scientists needed a
bloodstain the
size of a 10p piece to conduct a test, they now required just a pin-prick
invisible to the naked eye.
DNA samples would soon be used to re-examine unsolved sex cases and could even
be used in miscarriage-of-justice cases. Scientists were working on ways of
extracting DNA from sperm samples taken many years ago and still being
stored.
New developments meant it was possible to identify bodies that had been hidden
for some time. DNA can be taken from hair shafts in the skull, from bone and
faeces and matched with the mothers of possible victims.
Work was developing on portable DNA testing facilities which could be used at
the scenes of crimes to speed up investigations. Dr Sullivan said mass
screening in major inquiries had grown. Since the first screening in 1987,
in a double murder case in Leicestershire, there had been 91 screening
operations
in Britain involving 26,000 samples. Offenders were identified in 30 cases and
in one case a suspect walked into a police station and gave himself up when
DNA screening was announced by police.
Dr Sullivan said that in the next five years scientists would improve the
collection of DNA samples from blood and saliva left on surfaces such as
cigarettes. Further work on identifying DNA in animals would begin next year.
He said this could be used to solve crimes against humans. Children who were
assaulted sometimes left hairs from their pets on the clothing of their
attackers, which could be used to identify suspects.
Tim Robarts - mailto:t.robarts@btinternet.comt.robarts@btinternet.com -
http://www.robarts.com
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6) From: Will Smith
Subject: Anonymous Net?
Hi there. Do you know of any stealth program's the will stop my
movement being tracked on the net i.e.: where in surfing, what sites i'm
going to, what OS i'm running ect, my e-mail address ect...
like a real-time netshield or fire-wall?
to keep the $pooks from trackin me online?
The-MIB
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