Households in Orchard Park have been registered with SmartWater in response to a rise in burglaries. South Cambridgeshire’s Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership funded the kits which were taken to homes by Cambridgeshire Police officers and PCSOs.
Sergeant Rebecca Williams said: "In response to a rise in burglaries, we have used funding from the South Cambs Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership to help the local community to protect their property.<br><br><br>"We identified that the north of Cambridge was suffering more than other areas so have been conducting home security checks and giving out SmartWater kits in Orchard Park.<br><br><br>"PCSOs Jackie King and Leanne Allan have worked really hard on this project which has been fantastically well-received by the community. This is very labour intensive and these PCSOs have spent at least 15 minutes with everyone who has taken up SmartWater.<br><br><br>"Residents have been keen to protect their property and have welcomed the crime prevention advice from their neighbourhood policing team.<br><br><br>"Our message to the burglars out there is to think twice, because SmartWater will make it much easier for us to catch them."<br><br><br>At Orchard Park Primary School kits were handed out to parents collecting their children after school and they were also taken to sessions at the Meadows Community Centre.<br><br><br>SmartWater is a prevention and detection tool which links offenders to crime scenes.<br><br><br>SmartWater glows under UV light and can be applied to almost any property, or be triggered to spray on a burglar. It is invisible to the naked eye but due to the uniqueness of every SmartWater kit – like DNA is to every person – any recovered stolen property can be traced back to the exact place from where it was stolen.<br><br><br>Offenders can also be detected more easily by police. Custody suites are equipped with a SmartWater UV arch. All arrested individuals will be asked to walk through the arch and if they have any amount of SmartWater on their skin, clothes or hair it will glow.<br><br><br>The SmartWater kits were part of a home security pack, put together by the neighbourhood policing team. It included a leaflet about general crime prevention, one about home security and a home security survey which was conducted with each person to help them identify how they could improve the security of their home.<br><br><br>Officers then filled in the registration form for SmartWater with the resident, and ensured an item of property was marked while they were there.
