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Tony Blair sees latest DNA technology in action at the Forensic Science Service

 

23 Oct 2006

Prime Minister Tony Blair visited the London laboratory of the Forensic Science Service (FSS) this morning, to see how advances in DNA technology are helping in the fight against crime.

Mr Blair watched scientists recover DNA from a firearm, as London manager Chris Hadkiss explained how the FSS’s supersensitive DNA technique, DNA Low Copy Number, can be used to obtain a DNA profile from just a few cells.

Looking through a glass window into the lab, Mr Blair was able to see the stringent procedures in place to ensure there is no contamination of samples. He heard how once a DNA profile is obtained from a crimescene and matches someone on the National DNA Database, the chances of that profile having come from someone other than that individual can be in the order of one in a billion, providing powerful evidence.

As Mr Blair toured round the DNA unit of the Government owned company, he heard how advances in DNA technology are not only boosting detection rates in current cases, but also helping police go back and solve ‘cold’ cases – which might date back several decades.

The FSS’s Head of DNA Paul Hackett outlined the huge breakthroughs in DNA technology over the last two decades which have placed Britain’s Forensic Science Service firmly at the leading edge across the world. He highlighted milestones such as the conception and development of the National DNA Database by the FSS in 1995, the development of ever more sensitive profiling techniques such as DNA LCN, and FSS advances such as familial searching, which has helped lead police to offenders not on the National DNA Database.

Finally, Mr Blair heard about the very latest technique. Launched as a pilot earlier this month, DNAboostTM is set to boost crime detection rates by upward of 15%, by helping bring clarity to a type of DNA sample that was previously uninterpretable.