Smartwater is a property-marking solution with its own 'DNA'-type forensic fingerprint. It is invisible to the naked eye but glows under ultra-violet light. It is now being used throughout Ealing Borough in domestic and commercial properties.

Smartwater offers many advantages in the fight against residential burglary:

· It deters offenders from originally committing the offence due to an increased fear of being caught and property being traced back to the burglary;

· Property is identifiable so that in the event of the recovery of stolen goods the police are able to return stolen property to the rightful owner;

· Smartwater provides a strong evidence base to increase the chance of prosecution against either burglars or handlers of stolen property if discovered;

· Smartwater removes the potential excuses of legitimate businesses (i.e. goods exchange, second hand and pawn shops) if properly equipped with Smartwater detection equipment to claim that they were unaware they may be purchasing stolen property.

Police intend to commit Ward Teams and possibly Scene of Crime Officers to supply the Smartwater kits to households that have been victim of burglary to prevent repeat victimisation. They will also use the Ward Teams to distribute kits in areas of high crime and local hotspots for burglary.

For information, Smartwater is available commercially to the public from the supplier at a monthly fee: see the Smartwater website.

March 15, 2006