Police are providing property marking kits to help protect students’ valuables when they return to university after the Christmas break.
Pupils returning to the University of Derby, Buxton campus will be given packs containing Smartwater, which they can use to mark equipment such as laptops and television sets.
Smartwater is a forensically coded substance and like DNA, each batch produced is unique. When applied to computers, tools and other property, it marks the item with a ‘code’ used just by that person. The substance is invisible to the naked eye but can be identified by officers with ultra violet light.
Details of companies and individuals using Smartwater are kept on a national database so that owners can be traced quickly and alerted should their property be later recovered.
What they say
Crime reduction officer PC Nigel Fry said: "Students will be coming back to university with new items they received for Christmas. No doubt some of these will be expensive items such as computers or DVD players. Students can use the Smartwater kits to mark their property and if they are unfortunate to become victims of a burglary, we can return their property to them if it’s recovered."
