A forensic marking product is on offer to church wardens across Northumberland to help stop thieves targeting their buildings. Crime Prevention Advisors from Northumbria Police, with officers from the local neighbourhood policing teams have been meeting churches and offering them security advice and DNA forensic marking kits to help secure church premises.
Sandra Killeen, Northumberland Area Command, Crime Prevention Advisor said: "Churches are an important part of our communities and we are keen to work with them as closely as we can to ensure they are as safe and secure as possible.
"As well as advice, we have marked all metal piping and equipment with SelectaDNA – this gives it a unique reference number which is kept on a secure database.
“If the boiler and pipes are stolen it can be traced back to the individual church and instantly links the criminal to the crime scene.”
The Crime Prevention Team have recently been working with St John’s Church in Bedlington, where they visited churchwarden Eve Bain and gave her practical advice on keeping the church safe.
Mrs Bain said: "By working with the police and implementing the crime prevention advice they give us we can to make it harder for criminals to break into the church or cause damage.
“The forensic marking is a really good way of the police being able to identify any stolen property and safeguard our church against future crime.”
