Bike-riding phone snatchers targeted with DNA tagging spray

Telegraph

25-05-2025

Robbers on e-bikes are being targeted by police with DNA tagging spray that enables officers to track, catch and prosecute them.
Police officers are using the spray to mark the bikes, clothing and skin of riders and passengers without having to undertake risky pursuits of the robbers.
The e-bikes are increasingly being used by thieves to snatch mobile phones and bags from members of the public because their higher speeds make it harder for police to pursue them.
Each time the police use the spray it carries a unique DNA code within the invisible dye which is only detectable by UV light.
It remains on a suspect's skin and clothes for several months after they are sprayed with it, which means police can then link them via the unique DNA code to a specific theft.
The technology is being deployed in hotspots for mobile phone and bag thefts which have risen nationally by 70 per cent in just a year to a 20 year high.
The number of snatch thefts – where devices or personal items are grabbed off a person by a thief – rose from 58,000 in 2023 to 99,000 in 2024, the highest level since 2003, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales.
The Metropolitan, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Scottish police forces are among those running trials of the technology.
Insp Dan Jones, who leads the Watford neighbourhood policing team in Hertfordshire, said: 'It's another tool in our box of tactics to make it increasingly difficult for criminals to operate.
'Since the launch of Operation Hotspot in May last year, we've seen a 9 per cent reduction in town centre crime and a 15 per cent fall in reports of anti-social behaviour, so we know that what we're doing is having a positive effect.
'However, we are still seeing the use of high-powered e-bikes in criminality, and not only that but they're putting public lives at risk with their reckless riding. The spray will enable us to identify those responsible without the need to engage in risky high-speed pursuits.'
'Expect a knock on the door'
He said officers had begun using the spray on a daily basis after receiving training, adding: 'We want this to serve as a warning to those involved – expect a knock on the door, because we will catch up with you.'
The pilot of SelectaDNA tagging spray is expected to run for six months before the results are reviewed and evaluated. The tagging kits are also being distributed to businesses in targeted rural locations across Hertfordshire to protect their products and equipment from burglary and theft.
The tagging spray has also been used to enforce domestic abuse restraining orders by being deployed within victims' homes or to be carried by them so that any abuser who approaches them can be sprayed and shown to have breached their orders.
The Met has also used it to mark products in supermarkets so that they can be tracked if stolen to the shoplifting gangs behind the thefts and shops that receive the stolen merchandise.