Spot the criminal

A new material developed by

is undergoing trials by two constabularies which, if successful, will allow police to distinguish between pursuit cars and offenders during chases at night and in bad weather.

The patented material called Mirage is undergoing six-month trails with Cambridgeshire and Hampshire Constabularies.

The material allows the roof markings on vehicles to be read with a thermal-imaging camera. This enables air support police, co-ordinating chases in helicopters and aircraft, to distinguished between pursuers and the pursued.

Mirage solves this problem by enabling roof markings on vehicles to be read with a thermal imaging camera, and assists with the crucial law enforcement requirement of accurately reporting - for both incident management and legal reasons - every action taken by the police in pursuit situations.

Mirage appears 'cold' to thermal imaging equipment because it reflects the sky (which is typically several degrees colder than the earth) whereas letters appear 'warm', giving the same high-contrast lettering at night as seen by day.