INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office and other local law enforcement agencies are going high-tech in an effort to curb theft and help return stolen property to its rightful owner.
“This is a crim prevention method,” said Sheriff Deryl Loar.
In 2012, theft of personal property cost the citizens of the United States countless dollars; with a very small percentage of that stolen property recovered. It is one of the most frequently reported crimes, not only in Indian River County, but across the nation.
In response, the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office in partnership with CopDots and Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse is launching an unprecedented nationwide crime prevention program aimed exclusively at preventing the theft of personal property.
“It’s important to partner with the private sector,” said Vero Beach Police Chief David Currey.
CopDots is the first program in the country that seeks to saturate communities with microdot technology to mark personal property that ultimately provides proof of ownership if lost or stolen and helps law enforcement build stronger theft cases for prosecution. This ultimately leads to fewer crimes and a safer community, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
CopDots is the modern day equivalent of DNA for property. The technology originated in the 1940s and was used by the U.S. military to covertly identify items. It was also used in espionage missions to carry secret messages.
The technology evolved over time and became an effective tool for commercial and industrial use in the prevention of auto theft and most recently the rising number of copper thefts that have cost industry billions of dollars in lost assets.
In Australia and the United Kingdom, the technology has been touted as reducing the theft of motor vehicles by as much as 85 percent.
The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office is among the first in Florida to launch CopDots, which is partnering with Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse stores as the exclusive nationwide distributor of the product.
“For crime prevention to be successful, we must rely on everyone in the community working together,” said Shawn Andreas, president of CopDots. “We need law enforcement working with businesses like Lowes and local residents to not only build stronger theft cases for prosecution, but to prevent them from occurring in the first place. This technology allows us to connect the dots between the thief and the stolen property and it gives law enforcement the ability to get the property back to the rightful owner.”
Each CopDot contains a unique identifier. It is about the size of a grain of sand and is laser etched with a personal identification number or PIN that the user can register in an exclusive secure database that is only accessed by law enforcement.
CopDots are applied by the owner using a pen-style applicator that contains more than 3,000 microdots in a specially developed adhesive. One pen can mark about 40-50 items of personal property including tools, electronics, jewelry, cameras, bicycles and any other item of value.
The unique code on each dot links the property back to the owner and makes it virtually impossible for thieves to sell it without getting caught, according to the Sheriff’s Office.