Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 09:26:47 -0400 From: Sunder <sunder@brainlink.com>

5) From: "Timothy Robarts" <t.robarts@btinternet.com> Subject: DNA Technology

London 16/09/98

September 16 1998

Police Superintendents' Conference: Stewart Tendler on how science is catching up with the criminal.

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."

If human skin cells comprise the majority of household dust, and dust can so easily move from place to place, then how will they defend against the claim that the suspect passed near by (five blocks away) six months ago and the dust must have slowly made it's way to the crime scene... Don't answer...I know...truth is not the objective, rather conviction of the target. Now they'll have the tools to do it. The same cop investigating your car this month could inadvertently (or not) deposit a few traces of your skin dust at the scene of a crime next month. They keep getting scarier all the time! Al Franco, II