SmartWater Helps Partnership Achieve 68% Burglary Reduction

A crime-busting campaign targeting burglary hot-spots in areas of Widnes and Runcorn in Cheshire has been hailed as a major success.

The Safer Halton Partnership has been working tirelessly to increase awareness of burglary prevention amongst homeowners and local businesses. Since it started the number of burglaries in the area has reduced by 68%.

The Partnership has organised six two day events over the last year, which involved the distribution of over 1,500 SmartWater property marking kits, allowing residents to mark their valuables. Over 4,000 homes were also given home safety advice and smoke alarms during the project.

SmartWater is a high-tech liquid containing a unique forensic code that is registered to an address, so any marked items can be irrefutable traced back to their rightful owner. The liquid, which can be applied to all sorts of domestic items, including electrical equipment and jewellery, is virtually impossible to remove and can only be seen using UV lights used by the Police. Nationally SmartWater has been responsible for more than 1,000 convictions, which is why criminals will avoid it at all costs.

The Safer Halton Partnership is made up of over 18 organisations including Halton Borough Council, Cheshire Police and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

Halton Borough Council's executive Board Member for the Safer Halton Partnership, Cllr Dave Carghill, said: "This is great news. Crime figures are falling and people are feeling safer."

SmartWater Chief Executive, Phil Cleary, said: "The message is clearly getting out to criminals that if they target areas protected by SmartWater they face a far greater risk of arrest and prosecution.

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