POLICE have increased their armoury to outsmart burglars in the Cambridge area.
Officers and councils have teamed up to support a ‘Let’s keep crime down’ burglary campaign, using SmartWater forensic property coding. The £1.6 million drive aims to let people know how they can keep their homes safe from burglars.
South Cambridgeshire’s Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership and Cambridge City Community Safety Partnership have funded SmartWater, to be rolled out to some areas of the city and South Cambridgeshire. Adverts will appear in newspapers, television and radio over the next eight weeks with messages about keeping homes safe.
SmartWater, the latest property-marking technology, is just one tool being rolled out in the Orchard Park and Fulbourn areas of South Cambs. It is being taken into homes by officers who will mark valuable and sentimental items with the substance, which links offenders to the crime scene. The solution is painted on to household items and leaves a forensic fingerprint encoded with the owner’s details, that is virtually impossible to remove. By displaying SmartWater warning labels homeowners will let criminals know that your property is protected. If burglars do steal items, they can easily be traced back to the crime scene.
Cllr John Reynolds, chairman of South Cambs Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership, said: “Nobody wants to become a victim of burglary, so I urge residents to look at the advice about how they can make their homes safer.”
Insp Chris Savage said: “We have additional patrols in the Cherry Hinton, Fulbourn and Histon and Impington areas to help deter would-be burglars and there have been a large number of arrests since the beginning of the year in connection with burglaries.
“However, this campaign is also about equipping residents to better protect their homes. Nationally, 36 per cent of burglaries occur in properties with unlocked doors and windows, taking simple security precautions make a difference.”
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