Property Identification

[Baz]

My dad has recently started up his own small business called "Datadot Home and Business" . As some of you may already know, datadots are also used to coat the majority of parts in a lot of the new vehicles such as the FPV range and also the HSV range (lift up the bonnet and it has the identification plate there in front of you) to prevent them from being stolen, taken to pieces and then the parts sold individually. Basically the way they work is that the vin number of the vehicle is edged into these dots which are about the same size as the eye in this smily - .

When applied they are stuck down with a clear, heat resistant glue (which is basically impossible to remove) which also contains a UV trace. When placed under a microscope it reveals the vin number of the vehicle. At the moment my dads business has moved and focused in on the building industry targeting big firms such as "MTA" and "Multiplex". These businesses have a tremendous amount of theft from building sites, with the theft of things such as hot water systems etc. In a recent test one of the local home building companies took upon a trial period of marking datadots on some of there sites. At the end of the trial period a survey was shown that theft had dramatically dropped in the marked sites and had actually risen in the unmarked building sites, shown that marking property actually detered thieves.

A police bust was carried out a couple of months ago where they raided a warehouse full of stolen goods. But because none of the property could be identified, nothing could be returned to there rightful owners. After working closely with cash convertors (an easy offload for thieves) it is now manditory to run a UV light over all property being sold.

Anyway moving along, I have been wondering for a while whether this sort of technology would work well on marking property in vehicles. With the ability to mark things such as rims, decks, spoilers, turbos, intercoolers etc. etc. without the hassle and destructive effect that engraving does to property it may be a good idea to protect against and deter thieves in a similar and additional way an alarm system works. At a relatively low price for the starting kits at $99 which has 1000 dots included, gives almost enough dots to completely cover most items in a car. With the choice of having your choice of identification edged in the dots (normally just a drivers license number) it seems like a pretty cool idea.

Just wondering what other peoples thoughts would be on this matter.

Btw this is in no way beneficial to myself, I've just heard so many stories of people having things stolen on this forum and I'm just out try and give people a edge in the fight against crime and to see what other people think