town and city centres
To prevent contamination of the sample locations, personnel undertaking the survey will be fully suited in protective clothing. The sampling techniques used are non-invasive, non-toxic and leave no residue.
The collected samples will be analysed at the Dstl Forensic Explosives Laboratory (FEL), an internationally recognised leading authority in the detection and identification of explosive traces.
FEL staff attend scenes of crime relating to explosives, and painstakingly analyse evidence using advanced analytical techniques to identify minute traces of explosives. These traces are as small as a billionth of a gram, approximately 100,000x smaller than a single grain of sugar and present no explosive risk to the general public.