Police in North Derbyshire have been busy bees – offering anti-burglary property marking kits to bee keepers in the area following a rise in the number of hive thefts.?
?A number of beehives, worth hundreds of pounds, have been stolen in recent months so police have stepped in to offer SmartWater kits to keepers to help prevent further thefts.? ?Dozens of hives in Chesterfield, Dronfield, Clowne, Bolsover, Staveley and Buxton have all been marked with the forensically-coded liquid.? ?When applied to property, it is registered with a unique code which can then be linked to the owner’s address.? ?The substance is invisible to the naked eye but can be easily identified by officers with ultraviolet light. ? ?Details of people using SmartWater are kept on a national database so owners can be traced quickly and alerted should their property later be recovered.? ?Safer Neighbourhoods officers from across the area have been visiting bee keepers to offer them the free kits paid for by the Chesterfield Community Safety Partnership.? ?Some brave officers even donned the beekeepers suits and applied the SmartWater to the hives themselves – some of which contained thousands of bees.? ?Derbyshire police Supt Paul Berry, who is also a bee keeper, said: "Beehives are worth a substantial amount of money and the theft of hives has become a national issue because of the increased value of bees. ? ?"Through my contacts at the Chesterfield and District Bee Keeping Association we arranged for the SmartWater initiative and have now marked dozens of hives in the Chesterfield area.? ?"This will go a long way to reassuring the keepers and preventing further thefts. It will also help us to trace an owner if a stolen hive is recovered."? ?The initiative has been so successful that the association has asked police to order more SmartWater kits for their members which they will pay for.? ?PC Russ Smith, the Crime Reduction Officer for the area, has also given a talk to members of the association on keeping their hives safe and secure.
