You might have heard of the expression “getting caught red handed”, but surely you haven’t heard of getting caught green-faced and green-handed. Well, believe it or not this is exactly what happened to a thief recently. Turns out, the authorities in London have begun using an ingenious technology that points out a thief without the thief being any the wiser. Basically, some houses and cars in London are now fitted with a security system that sprays an odorless and colorless substance, when a thief tries breaking in.
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This substance cannot be washed off and under ultraviolet light anybody who is sprayed with this substance looks green in color. As mentioned earlier, the thief isn’t aware that he has been sprayed with this substance until it is too late in the day to do something about it. Of course, criminals will eventually find a way around this too, but it will be some time before they do and until then this technology can prevent a lot of crime. This technology, which is known as SmartWaterCSI in the US, is fast gaining popularity with police department world over and very soon we might see it being used in different parts of the globe.
Recently, in London, a man named Yafet Askale, who had stolen a laptop from inside a vehicle, was caught by the cops with the help of this technology. In other words, the vehicle Askale stole the laptop from, had this security system in place. Initially when arrested Askale claimed he was innocent, but the cops proved he was lying when it was revealed under ultraviolet light that he was green all over. With such a system in place the need for gathering fingerprints and other forensic evidence might slowly reduce.
Askale on this part had nothing left to say in his defense after it was conclusively proven that he was lying. He was sentenced to community service of 49 hours and was even fine £400 (about $650). This technology at least for now can prove to be a really effective deterrent both for small time criminals like Askale and even for hardened criminals. The best part is that you could install this security system not only on your front doors, but also windows.
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