DNA Technology May Help Huntington Station Residents Recover Stolen Items

HUNTINGTON STATION, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Five-hundred Huntington Station homes are receiving free DNA anti-burglary kits.

The kits allow residents to mark valued items with plant DNA strands invisible to the naked eye but that glow bright red under ultraviolet light, WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs reported.

"With this program, if an item is recovered, it can be returned to its owner," said Suffolk County Legislator William Spencer.

Homes getting the DNA kits are in higher crime neighborhoods.

It's part of a six-month pilot program that Spencer says will also serve as a deterrent to burglars.

"Now they'll have to think twice," he said.