wiredinUSA October 2012

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Picture : www.bigstockphoto.com ‘Spring’ Photographer - ‘ Rafal Steciuk’

Dog sniffs out stolen metal

stolen metal in places such as scrap yards, where metal is often piled high, not easily or safely accessible to officers, and where any forensic markings are not immediately visible to the human eye. Jazz’s trainer explained, “As humans we can only search...in the line of sight, but dogs can search in 3D by using their noses. They can be incredibly accurate, and can pinpoint their target to within a couple of centimeters. “Jazz is able to touch the marked metal with her nose identifying the target scent of SelectaDNA, allowing officers to move in at this point and make further investigations.”

Said to be the first detection dog in the world trained to trace stolen metal, an English black labrador is helping the fight against cable and metal theft in the UK. The dog, Jazz, has been trained to locate SelectaDNA forensic markings on a range of metals including copper, lead and aluminum. With metal theft costing the UK economy an estimated £770m a year there are about 1,000 incidents reported every week. SelectaDNA is being implemented in many police-backed crime reduction initiativesacross theUKandbycompanies such as Network Rail to protect copper cable from metal theft. Complementing existing police search procedures, Jazz is able to sniff for

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