Question: How do you help the police using science? What kind of techniques do you use?

Viv Lyons answered on 12 Mar 2012:

The police use a lot of forensic techniques to investigate crimes. Some of them are more obvious like fingerprints which can be used to identify who was at a particular crime scene. Colleagues of mine used their scientific knowledge to identify the best ways of seeing the fingerprints. Personally I work on automatic number plate recognition suggesting the best ways police can use this valuable tool to locate criminals through their cars.
In terms of specific techniques it really depends on the question being asked. In general terms whatever technique is used it has to be scientifically and logically valid and based on provable facts. One of the most powerful techniques I have available to me is my ability to communicate with the large range of scientists that I work with to be able to combine all of our knowledge.