Wiltshire Police aim to cut down on burglaries through home marking kits
They've launched a new operation
Wiltshire Police are aiming to reduce the number of burglaries across the county by introducing home marking DNA kits.
These kits, from SelectaDNA, contain a tube of DNA liquid, a swab and 50 stickers.
How does it work?
Each DNA liquid has it's own separate data tag number, which can be seen under a microscope and the data is linked to a national register.
You choose an item you would like to be marked, and you put a little bit of the liquid on the swab and rub that in one short stroke onto the item.
Eventually this mark will become almost invisible to the naked eye and is almost impossible to rub off.
You can do this with around 50 to 80 items in your home.
The marked area will show blue under a ultra-violet light.
This means that any items found that show this mark can be looked up on database, and, if stolen, can be returned to it's rightful owner.
Once you've marked an item you can place a sticker on it to deter burglars.
Research by the company reduces burglaries by up to 83% in the areas it is used.
Wiltshire Police has secured 2500 home kits which are already being offered to recent victims of burglary to help reduce repeat offences being committed to the victims.
The product can be used on electronics, jewellery, antiques, power tools or anything else a thief may be able to steal and sell on quickly.
The force say they'd love to be able to give everyone free kits, however it's not possible.
They have managed to get a discount for Wiltshire residents though.
Anyone who uses the code NHWAWILTSHIRE on the SelectaDNA website can get one for £25.
Wiltshire Police have launched Operation Siege as a result to crack down on burglaries.
A demonstration of how the product works was held in Salisbury yesterday (Tuesday 26th July).
As part of the demo a specialist search dog, that has been trained to sniff out marked items, showed his skills.
Ronnie is not a Wiltshire Police Dog but is a resource they could call on if needed.
Two items, a mobile phone and some cufflinks were marked and hidden in an antiques store and Ronnie had to find them.