Chemical Brothers - Smartwater

As a detective with the West Midlands police, Philip Cleary was often frustrated when confronted by the simple problem of successfully matching stolen property to its rightful owner. Aside from any altruistic motivation, the problem was a real one for police: successful prosecutions rest upon proving guilt and the mere act of finding boxes of stolen electronic goods in a person's bedroom do not constitute that proof - how can they say property is stolen if it can't be traced back to a specific individual? Cleary was sufficiently taxed by the problem that he gave some thought to solving it. Of all the options, he had identified forensic science as the ultimate fear of most criminals. Regardless of alibis, if forensic evidence can tie a person to a place or item, it provides an irrefutable link. He noted that a forensic "trap" was a potent deterrent against crime, a fact borne out by cases where forensic science had led to a reduction in criminal activity. Cleary engaged his brother Michael, a chartered chemist and member of the Royal Society of Chemists, to develop a science to make a solution possible. That solution was Smartwater, a non-hazardous, coded combination of chemicals in an aqueous mix. When dry, it is virtually undetectable in normal lighting, but glows under ultraviolet light. It is almost impossible to remove completely and successful analysis could be obtained from a trace less than half the size of the full stop at the end of this sentence.

Each batch of Smartwater is unique, manufactured under laboratory conditions with a database maintained by the Home Office Forensic Science Service. Every consignment of aqueous solution has a unique chemical make-up that contains thousands of aluminium coated particles, each with a unique numerical identifier. Together, these variables make it mathematically impossible for any two codes to be the same. The patented system used offers a potential four billion possible codes, although in theory, a few changes could make this number infinite. The solution can be painted on to an item and is then only undetectable under UV light. In essence, Smartwater is analogous to DNA profiling, linking a marked item of property back to a specific individual.

However, regardless of the benefits in being able to successfully charge the perpetrators of theft or robbery, in an ideal world you would prevent the crime taking place. The arrest and conviction of those responsible doesn't negate the sense of violation felt by their victims, nor does it reduce the pernicious fear of crime that affects whole communities. And it's here that Smartwater really provides the key. A recent criminal trial at the Old Bailey heard that robbers Sean and Vincent Bradish had originally targeted Thomas Cook Foreign Exchange Counters, but were forced to switch their attention when they discovered that the travel agency had fitted the Smartwater system. After being sprayed by one of the devices during a raid on one of the company's offices, Sean Bradish was said to have been horrified to discover its crime fighting potential and the company was never targeted by the pair again. It's easy to understand the fear that such a system can engender in criminals when you consider that having been sprayed, a criminal could get involved in a simple fracas one Friday night and end up charged with numerous robberies simply because the Smartwater showed up on him back the police station. With UV suites in an increasing number of police stations, that threat is a real one.

The system has been adopted by a number of police forces in the UK, including Greater Manchester Police, which in a high profile exercise recently agreed to apply Smartwater to the property in over 100,000 homes in the Oldham area of the city in a bid to reduce crime figures. In addition, officers have targeted active burglars by carrying out searches of their homes in order to recover stolen property, checking on-site to see if it has been marked with Smartwater. The company's scientists have also developed a way of inserting a unique identifier code to polymer-based products and textiles at a molecular level, thus providing a chain of continuity and identification from remains even when fire reduces an object to ash.

Smartwater employs over 40 staff from its base in Shropshire, but anticipates doubling in size in the next two years to cope with demand for its products. With blue chip companies including Microsoft, British Airways and Tesco adopting Smartwater, and exports to countries across the world increasing, it looks like that target is well within reach.

Leeds Solicitors