Across Sefton, property marking kits are to be distributed by police to help reduce burglaries, as part of Operation Castle.
Funding from Sefton Safety Communities Partnership, means Local Policing teams will be handing out the free SelectaDNA property marking kits in hot spot areas, allowing home owners to mark their valuables.
Operation Castle is intensifying the force’s focus on burglary in an attempt to reduce the number of offences, raise community confidence, reassure residents and reduce the number of outstanding named suspects for burglary.
Sefton Superintendent Matt Boyle said:
“These kits are just one method we are employing to tackle burglaries in the area and are one of the most simple and effective ways of protecting your possessions.
“Property marking puts burglars off because it lets others know the item has been stolen, making it more difficult to sell on. The other advantage is that it makes tracing and returning your stolen property a lot easier for police.
“We want to reduce our burglary offences in Sefton and my message to would-be burglars is don’t come here to commit crime.
“If you do and you’ve got stolen property on you we can trace it back to the original owner and prove it’s not yours.”
Cllr Trish Hardy, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities and Housing, said: “We are delighted to have funded these security kits through the Sefton Safer Communities Partnership.
“These kits help assist Merseyside Police in targeting those criminals who continue to blight our thriving communities.
“The Sefton Safer Communities Partnership will not tolerate this behaviour and the consequences this type of crime has on our residents and communities.”
Selecta DNA kits each have a unique solution makeup (DNA) which is attributable to each address. Property marked with these kits is secured and registered using a national database. Should Offenders be found in possession of such property or with such transferrable ‘DNA’ on their person or clothing then they can be directly linked to a crime. Thieves can no longer get away with possessing stolen property when confronted by police.
Officers from the Local Policing teams will be visiting addresses in hotspot areas across Sefton to hand out the kits. Signs will also be going up in these area to advertise that they are protected by SelectaDNA.
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