Bromsgrove District Housing Trust (bdht) has linked together with West Mercia Police on the SmartWater scheme, after a spate of burglaries that specifically targeted sheltered schemes in Bromsgrove during 2021.

The SmartWater Partnership aims to diminish burglary and theft locally, as this can have a long-lasting impact on victims. SmartWater is a traceable liquid and forensic asset marking system that is applied to items of value to identify thieves and deter theft. The liquid leaves a long lasting and unique identifier, the presence of which is invisible except under an ultraviolet black light. This way Police are able to recover items and identify who the original owner is.

Independent Living Manager, Hannah Ross said:

“Theft of any kind can often leave someone feeling unsafe in their own home, and where possessions that have emotional attachment are stolen, it can be heart-breaking. So, to tackle this in the local area, the campaign will provide each member of the bdht community with a SmartWater Forensic Property Marking kit.”

Jasmine Hutton, Police Constable at West Mercia, explains:

“Police have assisted bdht with a roll out of SmartWater to prevent and deter any future crime.

“bdht has identified accommodation which is a priority to protect to the safer neighbourhood’s team, and the scheme will be rolled out prior to summer 2022.”

West Mercia’s We Don’t Buy Crime team received the application for SmartWater thanks to a joint funding bid from bdht and West Mercia Police. The scheme is so successful, it now has hundreds of towns and villages in Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire signed up to the initiative.

For more information regarding the initiative, please call 01527 583749. Alternatively, please email bsr.snt@westmercia.pnn.police.uk.

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