How To Track Human Debris

The Germans have really come up with a great idea on how to track the garbage that shows up at protests.

German authorities use scent tracking to keep tabs on G-8 protesters (hat tip: 400lb Gorilla).

BERLIN (AP) - German authorities are using scent tracking to keep tabs on possibly violent protesters against next month's Group of Eight summit - a tactic that is drawing comparisons with the methods of former East Germany's secret police.

Scent samples have been taken from an undisclosed number of people believed to be a possible danger to the upcoming summit so that police dogs can pick out the perpetrators if there is violence, the Hamburger Morgenpost reported Tuesday.

Andreas Christeleit, a spokesman for federal prosecutors, confirmed the report but would give no further details.

"This has happened to several suspects," he said.

The use of scent samples was widely known to be practiced in Germany by the East German secret police, the Stasi, who used the technique to track dissidents.

It's like when I worked in NYC and the Grateful Dead came to town. Outside MSG, a wall of stench would hit you square between the eyes when I walked out of my office building. Streams of tripped-out, unbathed types meandering about, wallowing in their own stench.

The anarchist scum who shows up at the G-8 summit aren't that far from those Deadheads; they just have a lot more energy.