Report to the People
4th July 2005
Smart Thinking
I’ve heard of smart cards and smart bombs, but smart water?
Not,
apparently, water that can make itself into a cup of tea, but a crime prevention
device, thanks to which, 16 laptops stolen from St Patrick’s Primary have been
recovered and identified.
Smart
Water marks property with a special mixture of chemicals, unique to every
customer - your own “forensic fingerprint” if you like.
Not only does this mean that if your property is recovered it can be
returned, it also makes stolen goods almost impossible to sell on.
What
fence, in the knowledge that handling loot coded with Smart Water can link them
directly to the crime, is going to touch it?
And, if a thief can’t sell it on, there’s no point in stealing it in
the first place, is there?
Unsurprisingly,
Smart Water is already proving to be a deterrent in England and I’m glad that
Inverclyde is the first area in Scotland using it to protect valuable school
equipment.
But
Smart Water can do more. There is,
for example, a spray kit. Installed
on your premises, it sprays intruders with, again, a unique identifiable
solution. This imprint stays with
them for 6 months - providing the police with proof of a suspect’s presence at
the scene of a crime.
When
we seem to hear continually about criminals using new technology to dream up
innovative ways to commit crimes, it’s good to see it on the side of crime
prevention for a change.
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