New DNA pellets used by law enforcement officers will be able to tag certain individuals with a special SelectaDNA code so they can continue to search for an assailant sometime after their initial getaway. This new tagging system has been launched by a leading forensic marketing company from the UK to assist the identification of criminals at arms length, according to Selectamark Managing Director Andrew Knights.

The new high velocity DNA pellet trace system is available in both pistol and rifle formats, which means criminals can be tagged from a safe distance with a tagging gun. This will help police and law enforcement officers identify an individual in a crowd or from a distance. The new idea recently launched at The SHOT Show, Las Vegas, by Selectamark the innovative UK security company that believes the product is a great way to mark certain members involved in crowd control problems, which can be actively apprehended because of this unique marking.

A safe distance of around 30-40 meters is the suggested distance to tag a potential target with either pistol or rifle, and this will help officers apprehend an offender at a later date when the situation at hand is less confrontational. Andrew Knights mentions the uniquely coded SelectaDNA solution, which leaves a synthetic DNA trace mark for enforcers to confirm or eliminate those involved in a criminal activity.

This could be used as evidence in the arrest and prosecution of offenders in the future, therefore making the job of law enforcement easier and more direct in its approach to tracking down a perpetrator after the event. Powered by 12g powerlet with up to 20 shots in each for the pistol version, the SelectaDNA pellets come in packs of 14 pellets to a container all containing the same unique DNA code, and can be used in rifles as well as pistols.

More details on this can be viewed on Selecta DNA including the recent launch, we have also embedded a video of this in action at the bottom of our post. The video shows a mark left after being shot shown up under a UV light, although we are unsure how long this mark takes to disappear or whether it will penetrate certain forms of clothing.

If the DNA marking can stay on skin or clothing for a number of weeks this could be used to catch certain criminals sometime after the offence, so once this becomes apparent we could see situations like last summer’s UK riots disperse quicker once those involved know that they can be tracked down at a later date. Do you think this DNA trace system is a great way to stop some crowd situations from escalating?

It’s general knowledge that in today’s society it’s fairly easy to escape a speeding ticket, providing you come up with a believable excuse when an officer is about to approach your car. Obviously, the best method is to remain calm but it’s often the speed of your reply which will get you out of trouble.

Over at the Car Connection, they have listed some of the best speeding excuses that drivers had, which were actually rewarded with prizes for the top three. We’ve included the grand prize winning excuse just so you can see what tactic they used:

“I am a funeral director, the law does not bother a hearse on the highway at any speed. But this one time I had a time to be at an out of town crematory, and I was in a van, taking an unembalmed body to be cremated and he got me at 90 mph on the Interstate, when he stopped me and asked what was my hurry, I said, ‘Brother, I have to be at a crematory in an hour or I’ll miss my appointment time and they will be closing for the weekend.’ He said, ‘So …’ I said, ‘Take a whiff in the back, he stuck he head in the side window and jerked it back out and said sir hurry along and be careful.”

That silver tongued car owner received a Garmin StreetPilot 2730 with XM NavTraffic and XM Radio capability for his efforts, but can you top his excuse? If you have managed to escape a speeding ticket with a quick fire excuse, we’d love to hear what you had to say.

If you’re interested in hearing a full list of excuses, head to the Car Connection article here to hear more. What did you say to a law enforcement officer to save yourself a bit of cash?

This latest version will be on show at SEMA in Las Vegas, and you will see that the muscle car has been inspired by the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane. Do not think that the car is all about its looks; the new Interceptor is packed with some of the latest technology to help catch criminals.

Back in March Ford launched the 2012 Ford Police Interceptor, which was based on a 2010 Taurus – this latest model makes that model look like a classic. The new version looks so menacing because the entire vehicle has been lowered by an inch and sits on 22-inch rims.

The engine is the important feature here, with the 3.5-liter V6 lump offering 365hp. The reason for the speed boost over the standard road version is the help of a twin-turbochargers and direct-injection EcoBoost system.

However, there is one issue with the new Stealth Ford Police Interceptor, how can those rims handle going over a curb or rough ground? Would not be long before the vehicle was no longer able to drive. More details on the vehicle on Autoblog.

That is not all, it will also help to influence sentencing, and set the amount of bail a criminal will have to pay. University of Pennsylvania professor Richard Berk who developed the software has now improved on the original programming by making it possible for the software to identify those who are most likely to commit a crime, apart from murder.

Usually a parole officer looks at the criminal record as well as gut instinct to decide what level of parole or probation to set, this software will make the job much easier now.

The idea of this criminal behavior software is all well and good, but is it not handing too much control over to technology? I fear that we could begin to loose sense on what is right or wrong once software and computers do the job for us. For more details on this visit ABC News.

Should we shift our criminal decision making over to software, or is it going too far?