A partnership between police, residents and a social landlord is helping North Shropshire homeowners to protect their property with SmartWater.
The pilot project has been launched with the aim of protecting up to 80 homes around Manor Place, at Higher Heath, near Whitchurch.
A collaboration between Meres and Mosses Housing Association, West Mercia Police and residents' group, the Towns and Rural Communities Association (TARCA) has made the SmartWater marking kits available to householders free of charge.
The partnership is keen to roll out the programme more widely through North Shropshire following the completion of the pilot phase.
As well as being provided with the SmartWater kits, each containing a batch of uniquely-coded forensic liquid, street signs and window stickers highlighting the presence of SmartWater marking will be put to use around Manor Place to deter would-be thieves.
Members of the Whitchurch local policing team, along with support staff from Meres and Mosses Housing Association and volunteers from TARCA, visited homes to help residents understand the technology and to assist them in applying it to high-value and vulnerable items in the their homes.
Sheila Standley, MMHA's resident involvement officer, said: “This is a valuable opportunity to help residents make their homes more secure and to deter thieves. Criminals' dislike of SmartWater is widely known, so the more homes we can protect in this way, the better. Metal theft is a particular and growing problem, so there will be focus on marking metal items at properties, including copper piping, oil tanks and gates. The more tenants we can expand this opportunity to the better it will be for the whole community.”
Police in Shropshire are widely equipped with ultraviolet lights which cause the normally colourless SmartWater to glow, quickly indicating the presence of the marking. Because each batch of SmartWater is unique, officers can then use it to trace the rightful owner of stolen items and use that information as evidence against criminals.