`Intelligence policing' is the way forward, claims forensic scientist

The use of "intelligence policing" techniques to detect crime is the way of the future, according to forensic scientist Dr Sheila Willis of the Department of Justice's Forensic Science Laboratory.

Speaking on "Science versus Crime", a Science Week lecture in the Dublin Institute of Technology, she said Ireland was behind other countries in deploying the technique, which has a heavy reliance on computer data banks, while the Irish legal system, as currently structured, was not amenable to it.

Britain was regaining its reputation as a world leader in forensic science by building a very powerful DNA database, where profiles of those involved in crime were stored. "They have had tremendous successes. Our legal system does not lend us to using this system yet. It's hard to imagine it won't be the way of the future."

In Ireland, some progress was being made in building-up a "footprint data bank" used to detect individual shoe brands and supply circumstantial evidence to link a criminal with a scene. Information banks on car paint and car light lenses were also in place.

The most exciting development in forensic science has undoubtedly been DNA technology, also known as DNA fingerprinting, but this failed to indicate its true capabilities, said Dr Willis, who is head of chemistry at the laboratory. DNA technology is available in Ireland, she said, though it's constantly developing and allowing work on smaller samples. This would soon be "a phenomenal aid" in cases of rape and murder.

The belief that ecstasy tablets on sale in Ireland may contain poisons or heroin mixed into the product was an urban myth, said Dr John Fox of DIT school of chemistry. "Ecstasy, which is now the second-most abused drug in Ireland, in itself will kill," he warned.

Nonetheless, people should be aware that the necessary quality control is not in the three main ecstasy types currently in circulation. There had been cases of drugs such as ephedrine and LSD sold on the understanding they were ecstasy, when each drug could cause widely differing effects. Dr Fox described how intuition plays a role in drug detection. In one case the "sheer ugliness" of 20 china animal figures which were being imported to Ireland aroused the suspicion of customs officers. On cracking open one of the figures, two packages of cannabis, each weighing two and a half kilos, were discovered.

In another, an alert garda observed a person he knew "hadn't a sweet tooth" carrying two large bags of buns into a rock concert in Slane. On slicing open a bun, two nuggets of cannabis were neatly incorporated into its centre.