Scottish Firefighters Ready to Collect DNA from Spit
Lucky firefighters in Glasgow, Scotland will have DNA collection kits at the ready whenever some miscreant spits on them.
Bill McDonagh, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue’s director of operations said:
From now, anyone who spits at one of our firefighters should know we will have evidence against them, and chances are they will be identified and caught.
Spitting is a potentially dangerous act. Saliva can transmit dangerous diseases such as hepatitis B and bacterial meningitis.
Saliva samples will be sent to the police for processing and matched against the national DNA database. Even if there is no match, the DNA will still be stored in case the spitter strikes again.
None of this makes any sense to me. Is it impossible to chase a spitter down and nail him to the ground without the need for messing with saliva? What did they used to do before DNA evidence became so easy to collect?
Sounds like an awful lot of work to nab a spitter. On top of which, we run into the issue of storing someone’s DNA for committing minor violations. Won’t be too long before we walk around in full-body protective suits so we don’t come into contact with other people’s contagious diseases or to prevent our DNA from being collected without our consent. I guess that would solve the spitting problem.
Tags: spit, saliva, firefighters, genetics, genes, genome, dna, crime
It’s the UK, they don’t like to do anything to people who break the law really. My bigger question is why in the world are people spitting at firefighters? I mean, who doesn’t like firefighters? They don’t do anything bad at all!
Judson: hahaa Spitting on people is one of the most disgusting things I can think of. If anyone ever did that to me, I’d throttle them.