The Metropolitan Police launched a new operation to tackle the issue of Asian gold theft in London yesterday.
The Met said Asian homes accounted for nearly a quarter of all burglaries where jewellery was taken and is urging people to take measures to reduce their chances of becoming a victim by using traceable liquids such as SelectaDNA to mark jewellery.
Homeowners are being encouraged to be particularly vigilant ahead of Asian religious festivals.
Police-led schemes using SelectaDNA to protect Asian gold have proved extremely effectivein reducing crime. One such example is in West Sussex where police haveachieved a 100% reduction in burglaries of Asian gold over a six monthperiod using SelectaDNA.
Following a spate of more than 60 burglaries targeting Asianhouseholds in previous months, the new crime prevention initiative was launched by Sussex Police in March 2013.
SelectaDNA forensic marking kits were handed out to residents in Crawley to mark their valuable gold jewellery so it is more easily identifiable if it's stolen.
The system uses a forensic code to mark the property and visible stickers alert potential thieves that items within the property are marked, acting as a deterrent. The household and the items are then registered on a database, so if marked property is stolen and recovered it can be returned quickly to its rightful owner.
District Commander Chief Inspector Justina Beeken, who is leading the Crawley initiative, said: "Since the launch of the scheme in March we haven’t had any burglaries specifically targeting the Asian community.I am very happy with this result.”
She continued: “The scheme is ongoing and we still have somemore kits to give out. I want to encourage residents to do everything they canto make sure it is as difficult as it can be for thieves to steal from them,and these kits should really help that.
“Our aim for this operation was to go in hard, making Crawley a more hostile environment for thieves thinking about targeting our town. I am very pleased to say that our approach has worked."
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