In London, the Soho Safer Neighbourhoods team is offering people living, working and visiting the area the opportunity to register their property online, and free, at a local coffeehouse.
The Met Police officers host the ‘Record it, mark, it keep it’ property registration days supported by Starbucks and BT Openzone, twice a month at Starbucks coffeehouse in Wardour Street, W1.
Using a wireless internet connection the officers are able to show members of the public how to use Immobilise, the UK’s national property database www.immobilise.com .
Immobilise is used by all major police forces to search for stolen property and is hugely successful in combating mobile phone theft and returning stolen property to it’s rightful owner.
Any item of property, which has a serial code, can be registered on the site including mobile phones, laptops and even bikes.
Sgt Matt Butterworth, Soho Safer Neighbourhoods team, said: "With electronic gadgets getting smaller, it is becoming increasingly difficult to mark some property using the traditional UV pen. Using the Immobilise site is a lot easier and means the property is listed on a national database, which greatly increases the chance of you getting your property back if it’s stolen.
"Soho is a really busy area and thanks to the support we have received from Starbucks and BT we are able to speak to many more people and offer them crime prevention advice in this way. It also means that we’ve been able to provide the Immobilise service, for free, to those people who may not otherwise have access to the internet."
Starbucks district manager, Brian Aherne, said: "A big part of what we do at Starbucks is supporting the communities in which we operate our coffeehouses. We are delighted to be working with the Soho Safer Neighbourhoods team to help provide this service to the West End community."
Although the property registration days are still in a pilot stage, the Soho Safer Neighbourhoods team is speaking to other companies about the possibility of hosting similar events, with a view to rolling the scheme out across Westminster.
If you would like to register your property, officers will be at Starbucks, 60 to 66 Wardour Street, W1 on the following dates between 2pm and 3pm: 8, 22 April; 6, 20 May and 3, 17 June.
