Orange juice testing positive as acid: Met police scrap litmus paper tests on drinks

Testing scrapped: Police have abandoned a scheme of testing suspicious bottled liquids with litmus paper

@ArmitageJW

8 December 2017

Scotland Yard has abandoned a pilot scheme where officers used litmus paper to test suspicious liquids for acid in east London.

The Met ran the scheme over the summer with officers being issued with test kits to check bottles of soft drinks found on suspects stopped in the street.

Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Kearton, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) lead on corrosive attacks, said the trial had been unsuccessful because of issues of accuracy, with drinks such as orange juice and fizzy drinks testing positive for acid.

She revealed the UK has one of the highest rates of recorded acid attacks per capita in the world, with more than 400 acid or corrosive substance attacks carried out in the six months up to April 2017 - with London being a hotspot for attacks.

The Met said the results of the pilot scheme were being reviewed and the force was looking at other ways of using testing liquids with “emerging technology.”

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