Nobody enjoys being a victim of crime, and I had a whinge on the topic myself – just last week actually.

There’s been all sorts of technologies designed to protect assets from burglary and theft over the years, from engravers, ultraviolet marker pens, and also anti-theft screws among other loss prevention ideas.

And that’s just in my lifetime.

Locks and other crime prevention techniques have been around since forever, but most of them are easily overcome given time and a desire to take off with the proceeds of crime.

Enter deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology, which law enforcement agencies have been using to place offenders at the scene of crimes since the 1980s – with great success too I might add.

Norlane synthetic DNA trial

Around 500 households in the Norlane area of Geelong will soon be selected to participate in a 6 month trial, and offered free kits used to mark their valuables with a unique synthetic DNA solution.

Police hope the trial will lower burglary and theft related crimes in the area massively, not to mention the good public relations that are likely to come from such a rollout.

The initiative is a campaign by Safety Alliance Victoria, a formal partnership between Victoria Police, RACV, Neighbourhood Watch, Crime Stoppers Victoria and Federation University, in support of the Victoria Police Burglary Reduction Strategy, which hopes to…

• improve police practice through more face-to-face contact with victims of residential burglary and their neighbours
• improve the police response to residential burglary through enhanced forensic examination processes and intelligence sharing
• further home security and crime prevention initiatives
• build stronger, better-connected communities through localised social media and community engagement campaigns.

The nuts and bolts

The kit being distributed to select residents of Norlane contains the following items,

• 1 x membership card
• 1 x 8ml bottle of unique SelectaDNA (with microdots)
• 1 x blue stick applicator
• 50 x tamper-resistant warning labels
• 4 x window stickers
• 1 x UV keyring light
• 1 x instruction leaflet
• Lifetime registration on the Secure Asset Register

Valuables marked with the DNA solution are then recorded in a database, known as the Secure Asset Register, which is accessible by users of the SelectaDNA Home Kit as well as registered members of police, who will also be equipped with UV scanners to assist with identifying the owners of stolen goods.

The company behind the technology is UK based Selectamark Security Systems plc, which has been a player in the theft prevention game since 1985, so they’re not a new kid on the block by any standards.

The following video helps explain the technology,

Will it work?

Will this initiative to mark valuables with synthetic DNA actually achieve the desired outcome to reduce burglary and theft?

In short, yes, it more than likely will succeed.

Statistics from the UK, where the technology has been available for some time, has recorded an 83% drop in theft related crime.

Any move to reduce burglary and property theft is a welcome initiative, however the pilot program fails to address the underlying problem, being that 90% of burglaries are likely to be committed by drug users to support their habits.

Without throwing solutions at the cause of the problem, we’re likely just shifting the problem to areas where the pilot program is not available.

What about me – it isn’t fair!

Somebody had to say it… and somebody did.

First cab off the rank upon the announcement of the initiative at the Eyewatch – Geelong Police Service Area Facebook page was Nola Bufton, who asked,

“Wouldn’t it be more useful to do this in suburbs that have rich people with lots of expensive belongings?“,

Yeah, because fuck the battlers, look after the wealthy again eh?

Poor people don’t even drive cars, remember?

Norlane (and Whittlesea) have been chosen because the areas have some of the highest recorded incidents of residential burglaries in the entire state of Victoria.

Besides, it’s only a 6 month trial.

If you can afford “expensive belongings” to begin with, then you can afford to get your hands on a SelectaDNA Home Kit out of your own pocket eh?

Anyone can purchase the SelectaDNA Home Kit from the supplier directly for $99 (inc GST) via their website.

Hell, perhaps the premium rate on your home and contents insurance policy, something many in the disadvantaged northern suburbs of Geelong possibly do not have, might drop as a result of your $99 outlay?

In fact, if more of you with the cash to splash actually went out and purchased such a kit, we might see an overall reduction in burglary and theft, and not potentially see the problem moved from one suburb to another?

I reckon it’s a good idea – and for once, I praise the initiative for being a proactive move towards reducing crime.

Now if governments would actually begin to fund drug rehabilitation services adequately…

(Police requested, and I agreed to provide them with, an intimate forensic DNA sample earlier this year, so you’re safe from this direction… not that I have a single incident relating to any theft or dishonesty related crimes on my file – just thought I’d volunteer that information, lest somebody again accuse me for something I’ve not done – it’s happened before you know… more than once!).