Marking our property is a positive way to fight crime, it can act as a deterrent.

It allows you to prove ownership and helps you to identify your property easily if it is offered for sale.

Marking your property also provides a means for the police to identify stolen goods and return them to their owners.

Ways to mark your property

*Permanent marking - using an engraving tool and a stencil.

*Invisible marking using an ultraviolet (UV) pen to write your details.  When the ink is dry it's almost invisible to the human eye but shows up under a special light.  UV pen markings tend to fade over time so it's best to re-apply every six months.

*Forensic marking - this method uses DNA technology to mark property with a code which is unique to the owner.

*Photographs - some items such as jewellery and antiques are not suitable for marking.  In these cases, it is a good idea to take a photos of such items and keep them in a safe place with a record of any serial numbers or markings and a description.

Mark to use

You can put any kind of mark on your property to distinguish it from other similar items.  This could be your postcode pre-fixed with the number of your address, e.g 63 ZN6 2BB.

A postcode is unique to your property, which most organisations recognise and allows the goods to be identified and returned to you.

Just by putting a name or symbol on the property makes it identifiable, but does not provide details to the police of who owns the property and where it came from.

It is strongly recommended that you take a photo of all your valuables and make a note of any distinguishing marks, including where and how your have property marked it.  You can then print the photographs off and keep in a safe place, load onto your computer or keep on a memory stick.

By having these records, if your property is stolen you will have as much information as possible to give to the police and also pass to retailers and other organisations to hep locate your property.

For the latest crime prevention advice visit:

www.westmercia.police.uk/cp/crimeprevention/

For crimes in progress call 999.

For non emergencies report online:

www.westmercia.police.uk/report.