Bank security gives crims the blues

JOELLE DALLY | 12th May 2010

Bank robbers watch out - the chances of getting away with it just got slimmer.

A new security system recently installed in city BNZ branches means you will take the crime scene with you.

The system works by spraying a unique synthetic DNA solution on offenders as they run out the exit doors.

The spray - called SelectaDNA HydraSpray - remains on skin for up to two weeks, and on clothing for up to six months.

It is invisible to the naked eye, but glows bright blue under UV light.

A non-toxic composite of water, synthetic DNA and a UV tracer, each spray solution is specific to each individual bank branch. Police need only to find one billionth of a particle of the spray on an offender or their clothing to match the product to the particular bank, said BNZ security and fraud national manager Owen Loeffellechner.

"It is very powerful," he said.

"It is such a fine mist, it gets on everything.

"There's no escaping it."

Mr Loeffellechner said the spray was released semi-automatically when normal banking procedures were breached.

While he would not be drawn on exactly how it worked, tellers did not have to trigger the system, Mr Loeffellechner said.

Mr Loeffellechner said the spray had seen successful prosecutions in the United Kingdom and in Holland, where it is used in warehouses and even McDonalds - but New Zealand was the first place to install it in banks.

The BNZ is rolling out the spray in its 180 branches nationwide. It has already been installed in Christchurch branches, Mr Loeffellechner said.

"It is about prevention. In the UK when offenders see the sticker, they will go somewhere else," he said.

Mr Loeffellechner said bank robberies in New Zealand were at an all time high - 88 - last year.

He expected other banks would be watching to see how the spray worked for BNZ, and he hoped it would eventually become an industry standard.