Enfield police and Enfield Council started rolling out an innovative forensic property marking system to local residents to help reduce burglary across the borough. Safer Neighbourhoods Teams in Enfield began delivering the kits to local residents on Friday, 29 May. They were on hand to explain and demonstrate the kits to residents, whilst answering questions and providing crime prevention advice. The project in Enfield will run for three years and see around 27,000 kits being distributed to residents, in hot spot areas across the borough. This scheme will build on the success of the ‘Safe as Houses’ initiative, which was run by Enfield council and police. Residents were provided with free anti-burglary products, such as timer switches and window shock alarms. This scheme has helped to reduce burglary by 35 percent over the last six months in Enfield, compared to the corresponding time period for last year.
The new ‘Met Trace’ programme, in partnership with SmartWater, kicked off this week, with 440,000 homes in burglary hot spots set to receive a free kit to protect their property across the capital. The kits contain an invisible property marking solution, allowing owners to mark their possessions with a unique forensic code. They also contain warning stickers, for residents to display to deter burglars. This code can then be used by the police to trace the items should they ever be stolen and to link suspects to crime scenes. Created by SmartWater, the solution, which is virtually impossible to remove and can only be viewed under UV light, has already been proven to significantly reduce burglary rates. During a recent Met trial across five boroughs, burglary rates reduced on average by 49 percent, with some areas seeing a reduction of more than 70 percent. More than half of residents involved in the pilot said they felt safer having applied the liquid to items in their homes. The technology has a significant deterrent effect and it is predicted the programme could prevent more than 7,000 residential burglary offences. Superintendent Carl Robinson, from Enfield Borough, said: “Met Trace aims to reduce burglary, deter criminals and reassure residents that we are committed to making our borough a safer place in which to live, work and visit. “We urge everyone we visit to engage with their local policing team about how to use these very effective kits and take the opportunity to receive important crime prevention advice that can help you to further protect your home.” Following three years of detailed analysis, the Met has planned which addresses will be visited for the next 12 months. We have yet to decide which addresses to visit in 2016 or 2017, so there is a chance we might visit you then. Every 12 months we will repeat our analysis, to inform you of our activity for the following year.”
Enfield Council’s Cabinet Member for Environment, Councillor Daniel Anderson, said: “This is a great scheme which will reassure residents, deter criminals and demonstrate our commitment to keeping people, and their property safe from harm.” One local resident who was the first to receive SmartWater in their home said: “We love living in this area but nobody wants to feel vulnerable and at risk of burglary, any step in the right direction is a positive step.” Phil Cleary, Chief Executive and co-founder of SmartWater said: “SmartWater has helped the police secure hundreds of convictions and has a proven track record in the criminal courts. Therefore the criminal fraternities know full well the risks of taking on SmartWater and this creates a powerful deterrent that benefits residential and business communities. We are delighted that this world-first project is now underway and we look forward to supporting the incredible work of the Metropolitan Police Service to reduce crime across the capital.”