City bars given 'crime busting' dustpan and brush

​CITY bars are to be given the latest in crime-busting equipment – a dustpan and brush.

The cleaning gear, which comes with a cardboard box bearing a police sticker, is being termed a ‘forensic preparation kit’.

Officers are quick to point out the equipment is a response to a worrying increase in ‘bottling’ and ‘glassing’ incidents in Plymouth.

Police stress such attacks are in still in ‘low numbers’ but are keen for bar staff to preserve evidence, which can then be tested for fingerprints and DNA samples.

“The kits allow us to get better evidence to ensure anyone that commits an assault in licensed premises is prosecuted and convicted,” said licensing Sergeant Martin Worthington.

Police, who unveiled the kits to drinks industry representatives at this month’s Clubwatch meeting, said 20 kits would be given out to ‘the busier’ bars next week.

They will come with a briefing sheet for staff.

The idea is simple: if someone is attacked with a glass or bottle, staff simply sweep up the glass and put it, with the dustpan and brush, in the box and seal it. The entire kit is then handed to forensic scientists.

“It’s a way of retaining exhibits, pertinent to an inquiry, to gather forensic evidence,” said Senior Scenes of Crime Officer (SOCO) David Green, who devised the kits.

He explained that following assaults, forensic evidence is often lost, as broken glass gets scattered and trodden on, for instance.

It means that often the only forensic evidence the police get to work with is from the victim’s clothing.

But if glass used as a weapon is immediately swept up, and placed in the box, it will preserve DNA and fingerprints.

Often the assailant will use a glass or bottle he has been drinking from as a weapon, meaning there will be DNA around the rim and it will be covered in fingerprints.

Mr Green said that even with CCTV evidence and eyewitnesses, police may still not be able to name an offender.

But forensic evidence can ID anyone with a record.

The kits are also ‘forensically clean’, unlike other cleaning gear bars may have knocking about for sweeping up purposes.

“This will give us more of a chance of detecting violent crime,” said Mr Green.

He said the kits would also ‘bring forensic science to the forefront’ with bar staff.

“It’s to get over the idea of trying to preserve (the evidence),” he said.

Sgt Worthington said that if the kits were used, they would be replaced by fresh ones.