WMNT has invested £100,000 in SmartWater – a hi-tech fluid that marks property with a unique forensic code and can only be detected using an ultra-violet light.
WMNT has bought SmartWater property marking kits, alarms, detection equipment and promotional materials to help home owners and businesses and deter criminals.
West Middlesbrough Community Caretakers and Cleveland Police Officers have been trained to use SmartWater in properties across West Middlesbrough and the kits are provided free of charge for local residents in a bid to keep crime figures falling in the neighbourhood. The project will give all residents in West Middlesbrough the chance to have their homes SmartWatered by March 2006.
In addition to security marking of valuables, alarms are being wired into local venues - such as community centres - and motor vehicles so that anyone breaking in will be sprayed with a fine mist of SmartWater which dries instantly. It clings to hair, skin, clothing and jewellery and is invisible to the naked eye.
Every police office custody suite in Cleveland will be fitted with equipment to detect the water so that everyone arrested can be examined by walking past an ultra violet light.
Police search teams will also be equipped with portable lighting that can be taken into the homes of suspected thieves and burglars.