**************************************************************** 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. 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.com>t.robarts@btinternet.com - http://www.robarts.com **************************************************************** 6) From: Will Smith <the-mib@rocketmail.com> 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 ****************************************************************