DNA Test – Bizarre Stories
People generally take a DNA test to prove paternity or find lost relations, but there are also other bizarre stories out there.
Boss threatens DNA test
Gone are the days when you could stick a piece of chewing gum under your boss’s desk and play innocent. One office boss threatened his staff with a DNA test to find out who the guilty gum fiend was. Tony Price, managing director of an IT firm, was so enraged after finding gum squashed under his desk that he issued a memo demanding all eighty staff to submit to a DNA test in a bid to discover the culprit.
DNA test plans leaked
But after his plans were divulged to the media, he announced that was joking and then said that he would instead force his workers to take a lie detector test. His interest in tracking down the culprit using a DNA test and lie detectors may well have been a result of his liking for television detective dramas, although he told the BBC, “Gum was a problem in the office.” When the offending gum stuck to his trousers, despite banning gum in the office, he threatened the lie detector tests. One woman was happy to take the test because she said she thought she had found a way to get round it. The fact is, only a DNA test could give accurate proof of the culprit. Currently, however, such testing breaches employees’ human rights.
DNA test ‘spit kit’
DNA tests are now being used to convict people who commit what would have been previously viewed as minor offences. In September 2005, a new precedent was set when a man spat in a traffic warden’s face – a DNA test had been introduced for wardens to protect staff from assault. The man pleaded guilty after his saliva was tested with a DNA test ‘spit kit’ becoming the first driver in the country to be convicted on evidence gained in this way.
Gathering evidence
The driver spat at the warden after being told his tax disc was out of date. The warden gathered evidence of the offence by taking a photo of the driver on his camera phone, than waited for another warden to arrive with the DNA test ‘spit kit’.
DNA test kit protect wardens
The DNA test spit kits were introduced in May 2004 to about eighty traffic wardens in the Manchester region. This DNA test provides conclusive proof and the kits proved effective in protecting attendants from abuse. The DNA swabs taken from parking attendants are sent for analysis and can lead to a subsequent prosecution for assault. |
