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I CAN’T remember a time when the tabloids, broadsheets and newscasters were
so preoccupied with soaring crime statistics. Rachel Nowak’s recent report on
work by the University of Technology in Sydney and elsewhere on the usefulness
of trace elements from documents—ransom notes, altered business contracts
and the like—in catching criminals seemed timely
(22 July, p 10). I asked
Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, if his experts at the Home Office were aware of
this work.

Straw replied that the Forensic Science Service (FSS) uses comparable
techniques, and that it agreed that the Australian work has potential. However,…